Deep Cover

Directed by: Bill Duke

RS: Not Rated

1992 Drama

Temptation gleams in director Bill Duke's spiffy thriller about Russell Stevens Jr. (Larry Fishburne), a cop sent undercover in L.A. to bust a cocaine cartel. Stevens ultimately succumbs to the wild side, joining with dealer-lawyer David Jason (a squirrelly Jeff Goldblum) to taste the hallucinatory glamour of unlimited cash and blow.

It's gratifying to see the terrific Fishburne (Boyz n the Hood, Broadway's Two Trains Running) get his first lead in a super-slick action movie and play it for more than jolts. Rather than ride the easy cynicism of the script, by Michael Tolkin (The Player) and Henry Bean (Internal Affairs), Fishburne illuminates his character's moral struggle. Though Clarence Williams III, as a principled cop, and Victoria Dillard, as a money launderer scared into sanity, help in the good fight, Duke (A Rage in Harlem) makes the perks of the drug lifestyle palpably seductive. But this time there's something new in the snortscrew-slay formula: a working conscience.

PETER TRAVERS
RS 630