Synopsis
Anthony ‘Blest’ (Mark Webber) is one of the most talented and notorious graffiti artists in New York City. Despite the tragic loss of his older brother during a nightly 'bombing' foray with a graffiti crew, Anthony has the same insatiable addiction. With the other members of his ‘crew,’ Anthony parties, shoplifts spray-paint and 'tags' virgin walls with his signature 'Blest.' He does his best to avoid run-ins with the cops and hostile rival crews, but he can’t avoid the pressure from his mother to attend college, and from his girlfriend to leave New York with her. As tensions rise, a physical threat from the cops causes the crew to intensify their bombing excursions, calling an all out war on the city. When the inevitable confrontation happens, a tragedy results that pushes Anthony to make a decision that has even darker consequences.
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Cast
- KaDee StricklandToni
- Mark WebberBlest
- Jade YorkerLune
- Kumar PallanaKumar Baba
- Lee QuiñonesLee
Recommendations
- 80
Film Threat
Excellent acting, great music, amazing artwork and gorgeous Christopher Doyle type cinematography make this film an absolute treat to sit through. It's like a big piece of candy. - 80
Variety
A richly textured drama with an angry poetic edge that gets inside the obsessive subculture of New York graffiti artists, Bomb the System signals the arrival of a talented filmmaker in NYU film graduate Adam Bhala Lough. - 70
Village Voice
A needlessly circuitous plot twist leaves a bitter taste, but not before the film's scruffy charm does its work. - 70
The New York Times
Bomb the System, which rides on a subtle hip-hop soundtrack, might be described as soulful pulp; cult recognition awaits it. - 60
TV Guide Magazine
In the end it's all seductive surface and no substance, but Lough has a bold eye and a vivid sense of uniquely urban beauty. - 50
Christian Science Monitor
Well acted and ably directed, if not very probing about its subject of underclass youth. - 50
Los Angeles Times
Hurting the film is the fact that the central character, Anthony, is so self-absorbed. - 50
New York Daily News
The first feature from Adam Bhala Lough is brashly passionate in its desire to express the power and validity of graffiti art. But it's also preachy and single-minded, populated by a world of sympathetic heroes and hissable villains.