The film follows five teenage high school seniors and one sophomore, who hold a wounded police officer hostage and barricade themselves inside the school.
In an urban Queens high school students, Lester DeWitt (Usher Raymond), who lost his father, his younger best friend, artist Zacharias 'Ziggy' Malone (Robert Ri'chard), hard-working Stephanie Williams (Rosario Dawson), criminal Rodney J. Templeton (Fredro Starr), rebellious pregnant Lynn Sabatini (Sara Gilbert), and hustler Robert Tremont a.k.a. "Rivers" (Clifton Collins, Jr.), attend the history class of the caring Ken Knowles (Judd Nelson). The room is freezing so Mr. Knowles takes them to the principal's office, where Principal Allen Armstrong (Glynn Turman) tells Knowles to take them "anywhere".
Since there is no space anywhere in the school, Knowles and the kids go to a local diner, where a robbery takes place. Knowles confronts the robber, who was a former student that dropped out of school. Principal Armstrong is infuriated by what Knowles has done, and puts him on administrative leave. Lester, Stephanie and Ziggy are at the main office as Knowles leaves the school.
Stephanie is disgusted that Principal Armstrong has ignored that he told Knowles to "take the class anywhere" and confronts him about this. In response Principal Armstrong suspends Rivers, Ziggy, Stephanie and Lester from the school and calls in Officer Jackson to remove all of them. Ziggy tries to leave, afraid to go home, but Officer Jackson restrains him.
Lester tries to resist Officer Jackson and loses, but Ziggy picks up Officer Jackson's dropped Glock 19 pistol and says "I [Ziggy] cannot go home." The reason for this, is because Ziggy has been physically abused by his father for many years. Officer Jackson tries to restrain Ziggy but is accidentally shot in the leg as he grabs for his gun. Principal Armstrong tells school security to call an ambulance and the N.Y.P.D. in order to arrest Ziggy. Lester then grabs the gun and orders everyone to evacuate the school. This finally forces the N.Y.P.D. detectives to come in, led by Detective Audrey McDonald (Vanessa L. Williams) as a negotiator.
In the middle of all of this, there is a subplot in which Lynn berates Stephanie for being a "goody-two shoes", and a fight in the school's library that includes Rivers and Rodney, as well as Officer Jackson fleeing from Rodney and the others after knocking him out to use the bathroom. Another notable subplot was Ziggy showing everyone his artistic talents, such being a mural of himself and others on a classroom wall.
Still waiting after a couple of hours, the group continues to hold Officer Dante Jackson against his will. Lester tells everybody, including Stephanie and Dante about how his father (Robert Lee Minor) who was gunned down during a wrongful arrest. In the next few scenes, Rivers, Lynn, Rodney, Ziggy, Stephanie, and Lester, a.k.a. "The Lincoln 6", are all becoming infamous across New York City, as they are exposed and identified on such networks such as BET, VH1, NBC, NY1 and CBS, as well as MTV, as well being announced on radio.
Debate continues as the events taking place, until Detective McDonald and her colleague (Vic Polizos) debate on getting the kids something, which after several hours of stalling, the electricity being shut down at the school and the SWAT team storming in on the others as Lester takes Officer Jackson on top of the roof. There, Lester tells Officer Jackson that he resents all policemen for what has happened to his father, and Jackson tries to reassure him. Lester surrenders and Jackson consoles him. The comforting moment is short lived when Rodney grabs Officer Jackson from behind to finish the job and Lester trying to talk him out of it. In the midst of all this, Captain Monroe orders a sniper on a helicopter to take out Lester. Things go horribly wrong when Ziggy rushes onto the roof and is shot down by a sniper aimed for Lester. Lester runs to Ziggy's aid and comforts him while waiting for help. A dying Ziggy tells Lester he finally stood up and makes Lester promise him to tell everyone why they did what they did. Lester promises and Ziggy dies in his arms. The next day the remaining 5 students are arrested and taken into custody.
As the film reaches its climax, the narrator (Ziggy) talks about what happened to the kids and the officer: Officer Jackson testified in court that the events did not happen as the media have portrayed them, thus giving the kids a less sentence. Lester spent two years in state prison and has gone off to a city college to study law. Stephanie spent one year in prison and went to study at St. John's University. Lynn was sentenced to one year in prison, but was released earlier due to having her baby boy (named after Ziggy) and is never heard from again.
Rodney spends an unknown amount of time in prison and becomes a Muslim, Rivers is forced to join the military, due to the judge having him spend years in prison due to his priors or join the army. Mr. Knowles has been rehired back to the school and still teaches history. Lester kept his promise to Ziggy and comes back to Lincoln every year to tell other students their story and how what they did and Ziggy's death changed Lincoln forever. The end also shows Lester and Stephanie looking a painting that was crafted by Ziggy, who is forever remembered as the next Jean-Michel Basquiat a.k.a. "The Radiant Child".
Light It Up was released on November 10, 1999. The film grossed a worldwide total of $5,985,690 against a production budget of $13 million.[1]
Critical response
On Metacritic, it has an average score of 43 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 39% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Soon after the student uprising, the story starts to feel like a warmed over after-school special."[4]
Roger Ebert, said about Light it up, "The problem is the movie is too predictable--so predictable that it keeps it from truly generating suspense."[5]
Stakeout is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by John Badham and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Emilio Estevez, Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn. The screenplay was written by Jim Kouf, who won a 1988 Edgar Award for his work. Although the story is set in Seattle, the film was shot in Vancouver. A sequel, Another Stakeout, followed in 1993.
Just Cause is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name.
Robert Andrew Ri'chard is an American television and film actor, known for his roles as Arnaz Ballard on the UPN sitcom One on One and Bobby Walker on the Nickelodeon sitcom Cousin Skeeter.
Clockers is a 1995 American crime drama film directed by Spike Lee. It is an adaptation of the 1992 novel of the same name by Richard Price, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Lee. The film stars Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, and Mekhi Phifer in his debut film role. Set in New York City, Clockers tells the story of Strike (Phifer), a street-level drug dealer who becomes entangled in a murder investigation.
"One Arrest" is the seventh episode of the first season of the HBO original series The Wire (2002–2008). The episode was written by Rafael Alvarez from a story by David Simon and Ed Burns and was directed by Joe Chappelle. It originally aired on July 14, 2002.
"Collateral Damage" is the second episode of the second season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by Simon and Ed Burns and was directed by Ed Bianchi. It originally aired on June 8, 2003.
"Hot Shots" is the third episode of the second season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by David Simon & Ed Burns and was directed by Elodie Keene. It originally aired on June 15, 2003.
"All Prologue" is the sixth episode of the second season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by David Simon & Ed Burns and was directed by Steve Shill. It originally aired on July 6, 2003.
Seed is a 2007 Canadian horror film written, produced, and directed by Uwe Boll. Filming ran from July 17 to August 11, 2006 in British Columbia, Canada, on a $10 million budget.
Jay Landsman is a semi-fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire based upon the real life Baltimore City police officer Jay Landsman. The fictional character of Jay Landsman is portrayed by actor Delaney Williams.
"Refugees" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series The Wire. Written by Dennis Lehane from a story by Ed Burns & Dennis Lehane, and directed by Jim McKay, it originally aired on October 1, 2006.
"Unto Others" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series The Wire. Written by William F. Zorzi from a story by Ed Burns & William F. Zorzi, and directed by Anthony Hemingway, it originally aired on October 29, 2006.
The Interview is a 1998 Australian thriller film from writer-director Craig Monahan, and is the first of three films directed by Monahan. Almost the entire film takes place in a police interrogation room, with some short flashback sequences, and the cast consists primarily of three key actors—Hugo Weaving, Tony Martin, and Aaron Jeffery.
Brooklyn's Finest is a 2009 American crime drama film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Michael C. Martin. The film stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes. Brooklyn's Finest had its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2009 and was released theatrically in the United States on March 5, 2010.
The Fighting Temptations is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson, and distributed by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films. The main plot revolves around Darrin Hill who travels to his hometown of Monte Carlo, Georgia as he attempts to revive a church choir in order to enter a gospel competition. He seeks the help of a beautiful lounge singer and childhood friend, Lilly, with whom he falls in love. Through the choir's music, Darrin brings the church community back together all the while wooing Lilly.
Against the Wall is a 1994 American action historical drama television film directed by John Frankenheimer, written by Ron Hutchinson, and starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kyle MacLachlan. It aired on HBO on March 26, 1994. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Jackson and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Frankenheimer.
Strapped is a 1993 American television crime drama film produced by HBO Showcase. The film was directed by Forest Whitaker and is the cinematic debut of Bokeem Woodbine. It features several rappers including Fredro Starr, Sticky Fingaz, Busta Rhymes, Yo-Yo and Kool Moe Dee.
Gun is a 2010 American crime action film directed by Jessy Terrero, written by 50 Cent and starring himself, Val Kilmer and James Remar. Filming took place in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Tales of Halloween is a 2015 American comedy horror anthology film consisting of ten interlocking segments, each revolving around the titular holiday. Segments were directed by Neil Marshall, Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, Andrew Kasch, Paul Solet, John Skipp, Adam Gierasch, Jace Anderson, Mike Mendez, Ryan Schifrin, Dave Parker and, in his film debut, Jack Dylan Grazer.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
