Parents' Guide to 1992

Gibson's performance stands out in this action heist flick set on a memorably painful, violent day in Los Angeles history. He's quietly powerful as Merc, who's trying to reconnect with his teen son rather than rejoin his former life in a Crenshaw gang. Ammanuel also impresses as Antoine, who has complicated feelings about his father. Liotta plays to type as Lowell, a violent criminal who cares more about the score than his two grown sons. Lowell gets more and more psychopathic as the movie goes on, willing to kill whoever stands in the way of the crew's potential $10 million payout. (Despite his believable performance, it's somewhat disappointing for Liotta's final film appearance to be that of yet another in a long line of heavies.) Although the movie captures the chaos and anger following the King verdict, its most effective scene related to the situation is when two LAPD officers mistreat Merc and Antoine at a checkpoint. Merc, a man striving to be a better father, is easy to root for, especially since his foil, Lowell, is a cruel, greedy father whose sons hate and fear him.

Director Ariel Vromen, working from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sascha Penn, manages to make 1992's storyline seem utterly plausible. Viewers will likely be too invested in the action to think too deeply about a few plot holes, and since catalytic converters are commonly stolen for their precious metals, it makes sense that the factory's stash of platinum would be a tempting treasure. While the filmmakers try to tie a few too many themes into the movie—it's simultaneously a cultural and sociopolitical commentary about the verdict and its aftermath, a father-and-son drama focusing on Merc and Antoine, and an action thriller featuring Lowell and crew—overall, it's a better-than-expected entry in the oversaturated genre.