LA Undercover: Against The Code, written and directed by actors Adonis Armstrong and Omar Cook, is the sequel to LA Undercover. Picking up not long after the first entry concludes, Officer Corey Shaw (Cook) seems to be free of the shackles of undercover work. However, betrayed crime lord Keys (Clay Cureton) gets his thugs to kidnap the man’s pregnant girlfriend, Sierra (“Queen” Ajima Cole), despite the fact that he’s behind bars. While she’s retrieved in short order, the trauma and stress of the situation lead to a miscarriage.
“…Corey goes back undercover, looking into Scrilla by befriending the drug lord’s most trusted inner circle…”
To right this wrong, Corey goes back undercover, looking into Scrilla (JayTee Thompson) by befriending the drug lord’s most trusted inner circle, Cardo (Duane Finely) and Tez (Kendon Tillis). But between the stress of his personal job, the personal stakes in the investigation, and the lavish style of his pretend persona, Dray, the cop finds it hard to separate his real life from his fake one.
LA Undercover: Against The Code is very confusing for the first 30 minutes or so. There is a huge roster of characters, and their relationships are barely explained before new people are introduced. It takes a long time for all their threads to knot together in a way that feels organic. Presumably, the story feels this way because I haven’t seen its predecessor. But a good movie should be able to stand on its own, sequel or not. Unfortunately, in that regard, the filmmakers make it very difficult for newcomers to fully understand character dynamics and relations. For instance, there’s a low-level drug pusher who thinks she’s hot s**t named Tracy, played by Pookie Blow. Cutting this character out changes nothing of substance whatsoever and would shorten the runtime to a tight 90 minutes versus the hour and 40 it currently is. Plus, Sierra’s distaste for Corey’s job makes no sense. Again, presumably this was set up in the first and is being paid off here. But as it stands unto itself, why would she ever get with a law enforcement officer if this is how she feels about it? It never makes sense.
"…the acting is great."
