National Security Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)February 14th, 2003
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I've never hidden my dislike of Martin Lawrence. In fact, I wear said loathing proudly on my sleeve. Aside from Kelly Osbourne, I'm not sure there's a bigger star with less talent out there. Needless to say, I was looking forward to seeing Lawrence's latest - National Security - slightly less than attending next week's dentist appointment. I expected the typical Lawrence shuckin'-and-jivin' routine, complete with nonstop mugging, Ebonic-laced dialogue and joke after incredibly lame joke.
I got all of that, but what I didn't expect was black America's answer to Birth of a Nation. Security is probably the most racist film I've ever seen. After an opening scene depicting an LAPD officer (Timothy Busfield) being ruthlessly gunned down in the line of duty (what a hysterical way to open a comedy!), we're quickly introduced to the movie's two main characters. I'd call them protagonists, but that would imply audiences would be rooting for both of them to overcome their obstacles and succeed before the closing credits started to roll. Well, I'll let you be the judge. Here's the tale of the tape:
Hank (Steve Zahn, Riding in Cars With Boys) is a dedicated member of the LAPD and the officer who watched helplessly as his partner, Charlie, was murdered in Security's opening scene. As far as we can tell, the only thing he's ever done wrong is accidentally letting a locked door close, which prevented him from saving Charlie. Hank is accused of a race-inspired beating he never committed, and after being convicted and serving a six-month sentence in solitary confinement, he loses both his wife (she's black) and his job, and is reduced to taking a position for a fraction of his former wages.
Earl (Lawrence, Black Knight) wants to be an LAPD officer but is too much of a loose cannon to make it through the police academy. Following a scene in which he destroys hundreds of thousands of dollars of police property, he seems genuinely surprised that he's being tossed out of the training program. During the course of Security, Earl steals two cars (including a police cruiser), carries and uses an illegal, concealed weapon, and expresses a deep hatred of mixed-race marriages (unless, of course, it involves a black man and a white woman). When Earl doesn't get his way, his response is always, "Why? 'Cuz I'm a black man?" When Earl fucks up - a near-constant occurrence - he shrugs his shoulders and asks, "What da prollum is?" Oh, and Earl also lies about being beaten by Hank, which is how Hank found himself jobless, wifeless and incarcerated.
Security's story pits Hank and Earl, who are now both low-rent security officers, against the Eric Roberts-led gang that killed Charlie. The screenplay, which was written by the masters of the idiot buddy pic, I Spy's Jay Scherick and David Ronn, is, I think, supposed to reflect a reversal in the stereotypical roles generally found in mainstream films. If this was the intention, it's an idea that's far less than half-baked. The premise was done more successfully and more consistently in 1995's unsuccessful and inconsistent White Man's Burden (starring John Travolta and the Colin Powell-hating Harry Belafonte). In Security, it's not nearly a complete role reversal; if anything, it might attempt to show a white character what might happen if he was a black stereotype.
But Security is so filled with every other kind of stereotype (and some ridiculous product placement), it completely obscures its intended message. To make Earl more likable and Hank more of a tool of The Man, the screenwriters make every other cop in the film as honest as a US president with close ties to the oil industry invading Iraq (except for Bill Duke's black lieutenant, who is corrupt but still supposed to be likable). And they make Hank wear a moustache to look more like Stacey Koon, too! Viewers never learn enough about Earl's background to understand why he has such a problem with Whitey, leaving them to assume he hates all caucasians for no particular reason. Yet the audience is expected to howl with delight when Earl says stuff like, "They so many white people up in here, my eyes ain't adjusted yet."
The sad part is that the audience at my screening did howl when Earl said things like that. And I'm pretty sure if I said the same line, replacing "white" with "black," they would have toted me out of the theatre in several Ziploc bags.
1:32 - PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality
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