Larenz Tate

(On TV, July 2022) In theory, there’s enough good stuff in Gun Hill’s premise to make the film viable as good evening entertainment. In practice, though, this BET original film quickly reverts to the dull routine of such low-budget made-for-TV movies. The hook here is the idea of twin brothers on opposite sides of the law, with one of them taking the other’s identity when he’s killed. Writer-director Reggie Rock Bythewood should have been able to parlay this premise (along with a rather good double turn from Larenz Tate) into a compelling result. But the result is held back by a few things—most notably the requirement for being a pilot for a later series that never materialized, hence dangling subplots not properly resolved. (BET did the same thing with the even-more-frustrating Sacrifice, except it did lead to a TV show.)  The low budget doesn’t allow for many flourishes, and the “BET house-style” is usually synonymous with amateurish screenwriting. Gun Hill suffers from all of this, but fares even worse in the dullness of its execution: it rarely rises above mediocrity in terms of viewing interest, and it’s a measure of how thoroughly it squanders its assets that by the film it springs a surprise revelation right before ending, most viewers are liable to shrug for utter lack of caring. Too bad, really—I still think a much better film could have come out of this.