These days, LL Cool J is no longer a dilemma for b-boys or b-girls, as he is not considered a legitimate rapper. He is now in the league of Will Smith and Queen Latifah, who are fundamentally big corporations with their hands in all aspects of the entertainment industry. But in his latest movie, In Too Deep, LL Cool J manages to tap into that soft/hard dichotomy which distinguished his early music career.
In In Too Deep, LL Cool J plays a drug lord who at one moment is extremely violent, and another extremely sensitive. It is a spectacular performance: LL Cool J is able to make the transitions quickly and smoothly. If he loves you, he does so without limit; if he hates you, it is with the fury of the Old Testament God. Indeed, his name in the movie is God. What is fascinating is that we never once find it odd or funny that his cronies address him as such, because, really, isn't this how gods express themselves, with total passion?
LL Cool J plays God so effectively that he destroys the primary function of the role, which is supposed to be a character who is so evil, so loathsome, that the audience delights in his inevitable demise by the film's end. But how can we hate a god? Gods are ultimately moral, perhaps only because it is from their extremes that we construct a clear moral order. Sadly, In Too Deep is structurally too weak to support LL Cool J's emotional breadth. One hopes that, in the future, better directors will just give in to Him, and let the will of God order the very meaning, substance, plot of their world.