Sugar Hill is considered the second installment in scripwriter Barry Michael Cooper’s “Harlem Trilogy.” It is also the weakest link, not necessarily a bad thing when the chain also includes New Jack City and Above the Rim (we may, to a certain extent, attribute the varying quality among the three films to being each directed by a a different filmmaker); unfortunately, it isn’t all that good in a vacuum either. Lacking the originality of New Jack, Sugar Hill could be described as The Blackfather (I would also accept Blacklito’s Way), although it reaches much farther back than that; the film is a tragedy in the classic sense of the word – or at least it would be if it didn’t have one scene too many, specifically a tacked-on semi-happy ending (the previous scene, involving a climactic yet clichéd Gun Struggle, doesn’t do the movie any favors either). As a Godfather clone, Sugar Hill knows the words but not the music. For instance, evil drug dealer Lolly Jonas (Ernie Hudson) kills good drug dealer Roemello Skuggs's (Wesley Snipes) best friend Goggles (Steve Harris), but instead of seeking retaliation, and hoping to avoid more bloodshed, Roemello makes a precarious truce with Lolly which is broken by Roemello’s older but less competent brother Raynathan (Michael Wright). At the same time, Roemello is looking to quit the drug business and settle down with his new girlfriend Melissa…

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