Not to be confused with the Dwayne Johnson/Kevin Hart franchise, this Ride Along is a low-budget indie crime film about a recently paroled convict whose story catches the eye of a “Hollywood” producer who wants to get the rights to turn it into a biopic. In doing so, the producer gets introduced to the criminal world of his subject.
We open with an interview with Ezekiel Cross (Larry Greene). He’s been in prison for the past two years and is about to get out. He’s being evaluated one last time before his release. All Ezekiel wants is to reunite with his girlfriend, Vivian (Victorye Pulliam), and collect on some debts that are owed. Meanwhile, a very successful actor/producer, Norman Gage (Giovanni Pauletti), is being convinced by one of his business associates, Kim (Sandy Gulliver), that Ezekiel’s story should be made into a biopic. Norman flies to Chicago, where Ezekiel lives.
Once in Chicago, Norman tracks down Ezekiel, who has no idea who Norman is. Ezekiel is in the middle of some “unfinished business” but allows Norman to tag along. Up first is one of Ezekiel’s shadier colleagues, Floyd Vincent (Harold Dennis), who isn’t too happy to see him. The meeting doesn’t go as well as Ezekiel had hoped, and he’s pointed in the direction of the men responsible for his incarceration.
Ezekiel shares with Norman that he was wrongfully imprisoned. He’s definitely not a “good” guy, but he was double-crossed. The deal he was involved in went south, involving a corrupt system of money, drugs, and business executives at Zipline. Ezekiel eventually confronts the businessmen, who basically tell him to screw off and that he’s lucky to be alive and free. They warn him that his life, along with his girlfriend’s, will be at stake if there are any more problems.
Norman Gage (Giovanni Pauletti) reflects with the Chicago skyline behind him in Ride Along.
“All Ezekiel wants is to reunite with his girlfriend Vivian…and collect on some debts that are owed.”
Ezekiel’s role in the business has since been replaced by Steven (Tony Lee Gratz). The Zipline executives soon realize that Ezekiel is going to be a problem and leave Steven and Floyd to take care of it. Norman gets caught up in the dangerous world that Ezekiel is now preparing to retaliate against, and he begins to understand that there may not be any loose ends when this is all over.
The idea of a man going to prison for a crime and wanting to settle all his scores once he’s released is nothing new. However, writer/director Larry Greene manages to hit all the beats of this type of story. As I watched his film, it reminded me of something I had learned about the old studio system. Directors basically just put up a camera and shot footage. They were directors for hire, working from a set shot list without much of a personal vision.
Greene, I have to say, really thought about his shots based on the scenes he created and how to keep them interesting. There’s a scene with the executives discussing what to do about Ezekiel where it could have easily been just a few static shots here and there. Instead, I appreciated Greene’s choices of when to use a one-shot or a two-shot and how he edited the scene together.
He does the same thing during the ride-along scenes between Ezekiel and Norman. What could have simply been back-and-forth shots of the two characters instead becomes much more creative, with Greene filming them through the rearview mirror and from the backseat. I even caught myself admiring some of the shots through the reflection of their sunglasses.
Ride Along may not reinvent the crime genre, but I think Larry Greene makes up for that with a real effort to make the film visually interesting.
"…a real effort to make the film visually interesting."
