Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) is the star basketball player at his high school, but his overly developed ego limits him from reaching his full potential. However via trials and tribulations he slowly starts finding the right path, in some part thanks to an unwilling mentor in the form of the school security guard Shep (Leon), who used to be NBA material, until one day tragically (and unintentionally comically) his best friend plummets to his death after trying to dunk. His brother on the other hand is local badboy Birdie (Tupac Shakur), who took to crime after Shep bailed out on the family.
Despite B-movie credentials the presence of Tupac Shakur seems to have torpedoed the popularity of "Above the Rim". The story however remains derivative throughout, whilst the secondary plot is more than a tad schmaltzy, thrown in for good measure to introduce a father figure for Kyle. In addition to that the director Jeff Pollack goes extremely by the book, avoiding any turns or twists. Keeping it simple doesn't however work, as the resulting story is plot-thin and scarce of emotion. Once it gets to the ultimate and predictable show-down no connection has really been created between the viewers and the characters, hence no real enjoyment in watching this purposeless flick.
Some key scenes are plain funny, unwillingly drawing a smirk to your face, while certain situations are blunderingly solved with disregard to logic and reason.
Despite B-movie credentials the presence of Tupac Shakur seems to have torpedoed the popularity of "Above the Rim". The story however remains derivative throughout, whilst the secondary plot is more than a tad schmaltzy, thrown in for good measure to introduce a father figure for Kyle. In addition to that the director Jeff Pollack goes extremely by the book, avoiding any turns or twists. Keeping it simple doesn't however work, as the resulting story is plot-thin and scarce of emotion. Once it gets to the ultimate and predictable show-down no connection has really been created between the viewers and the characters, hence no real enjoyment in watching this purposeless flick.
Some key scenes are plain funny, unwillingly drawing a smirk to your face, while certain situations are blunderingly solved with disregard to logic and reason.