Dolby Digital 2.0 (English)

I have never really seen a movie like Gang Tapes, a sort-of urban mockumentary told in the first-person through a digital camcorder. The Blair Witch Project is all that really comes close, and even that is not exactly the same thing. The film begins with home video footage of a family on vacation in Hollywood, but once they are carjacked, the family video camera falls into the hands of a 14 year old kid in urban Los Angeles. With this camera, he chronicles his adventures with the other boys and young me... in the neighborhood, including going to parties, dealing drugs, hitting on women, committing crimes and even witnessing murder. The audience is treated to a view of this boy's life through his own eyes, and the result is a frightening look at the life of a child growing up in the ghetto.

While this is a gripping urban tale, the film is not without some problems. At first, the story is intriguing, shining a light in a corner of America that not many people are familiar with. After a while, however, the extreme use of language and constant arguing wears thin. While this may very well be the reality of the situation, it is not always entertaining faire. Likewise, the action begins to give way to a series of speeches by various members of the cast throughout the last part of the film. Many of these scenes feel forced and unnatural in the midst of the chaos around them. The result is a very good film that could have been even more powerful if it were edited down to a running time of about an hour.