In Too Deep – Review

“Inspired by a true story,” In Too Deep features undercover cop Jeff Cole / street name J. Reid (Epps) battling with emotion and morals, while balancing life and death. After months of hard work, he is finally where he wants to be. The boys though, want to test his loyalty. Glock in hand, Reid is to shoot their mark in a drive-by. How does a cop handle something like this and not blow his cover?

Flashing back to his graduation, Cincinnati rookie cop Jeff Cole volunteers for a deep cover assignment, using his Baltimore project upbringing as his rationale. Jeff lands it, forming identity J. Reid from Akron. Jeff unloads stress with his Captain D’Ambrosio (Tucci), focusing on keeping his identities separate and head in the game. J. Reid however starts to slip into the act a bit, building up his street rep to try to get in with the real players.

Dwayne Gittens (LL Cool J) has the street name God. He’s an untouchable hoodlum, pushing weight and taking territory. But, when loose lips start spreading info, he shows how “forgiving” this God really is. It is assumed that he pushes 80%+ of the crack in the city.

To get at God, J. has to work hard to make the right connections, do the right deals, and join the right gang. This takes time and investment, but also puts J. in a position where he has to make some impossible decisions.

In Too Deep is a bit underdeveloped, but it’s still a pretty solid undercover cop movie. The cast is fairly strong, though a few actors were underused like Pam Grier. The film tries to tackle many psychological aspects of having to be an undercover operative and creating a character to hide behind. It’s easy to get lost in the vibe of being someone else, even a violent hoodlum, especially as one trying to fit in. By the end, there is an examination of how common it is to blur lines as a cop in with criminals.

Critics did not like this one, but it’s fairly watchable even if a tad generic. Its short runtime help keeps it moving, and it has a good soundtrack for hip hop heads.