This action film, directed by the Hughes brothers, depicts a heist of old bills, retired from circulation and destined by the government to be "money to burn." However, more broadly, it addresses the issues of Black Americans' involvement in the Vietnam War and their subsequent disillusionment with progress in social issues and civil rights back home in the United States, during the 1960's. A Vietnam vet adjusts to life after the war while trying to support his family, but the chance of a better life may involve crime and bloodshed. If you're looking for an intelligent, engrossing film, yet one with action and suspense, this is an excellent film. It is an excellent character study, rivaling Lawrence of Arabia on the corrupting powers of war in regards to human action. A definite recommendation. Dead Presidents is an okay movie. Not bad, not great. Okay. I give it a B-. <br/><br/>I give Dead Presidents high marks for casting and acting. Larenz Tate, Chris Tucker, and the rest did a fabulous job. I also like the war scenes–very gripping, very scary.<br/><br/>The problem that I have with the movie is that it spans too many genres and as a result, just seems to drag on and on. The tag line would make you believe that this is a cops and robbers film centered around a major heist. But that is terribly misleading. The heist doesn't happen and isn't even an issue until late in the film. Up to that point you could consider this a life in the ghetto movie, trying to escape the ghetto movie, a Viet Nam war movie, a what life was like for blacks in the late 60's early 70's movie, a what the Viet Nam war did to those who survived it movie, so on and so on. By the time it came around for the big robbery, I was wondering when this movie would end. This problem of too grand a scope keeps the movie from getting an A.
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