'Biker Boyz'
(Derek Luke, Laurence Fishburne / PG-13 / 111 mins / Dreamworks)
Overview: Described as a modern-day western on motorcycles, the story showcases the world of black motorcycle clubs. Laurence Fishburne plays Manuel Galloway, the real-life California motorcycle club president and racer known as the King of Cali. He's the leader of the pack, so to speak, and the pack is a group of 9-to-5ers by day and a wild bunch of leather-clad racing rebels at night.
Verdict: ’Biker Boyz’ imagines itself a leaner, hipper, African-American-slanted answer to ’The Fast and the Furious,’ but it has little of the visceral energy of its forerunner and none of its adolescent sense of grandeur. Too long and self-consciously progressive to be entertaining, ’Biker Boyz’ sticks a fine cast atop a series of tricked-out motorcycles and sends them speeding down the expressway to mediocrity! The film does have an idea though, just not the approach and should therefore be best savored as a reunion special between the cast of "The Cosby Show" and "A Different World!"
Reviewed by Marcus Bright