Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 26, 1994                   TAG: 9402260092
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: C12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SNIPES IS STRONG, BUT 'SUGAR HILL' ISN'T

In execution, though, the film loses focus and ends on an unsteady note. Balanced against those flaws, director Leon Ichaso effectively captures some Harlem locations on screen, and he got another strong performance Wesley Snipes as Roemello.

Roemello is a sharp, college-educated heroin dealer who's driven by a traumatic past. While he deals with his unstable older brother, Raynathan (Michael Wright), he sees his business being threatened by competition from Lolly (Ernie Hudson). Then there's the new woman in his life, Melissa (Theresa Randle), who doesn't approve of his occupation. All of it is enough to make Roemello think that it's time for him to retire.

Writer Barry Michael Cooper ("New Jack City") doesn't dwell on the details of the drug trade, and considering the genre, the violence is restrained. The real focus is on Roemello's family; the exterior forces that have almost destroyed them and the conflicts that remain between the brothers and their father (Clarence Williams III).

Director Ichaso tells the story at an elegiac pace that's complemented by a moody jazz score from Terence Blanchard. For the first third or so, that deliberate speed suits the film as the characters and their environment are introduced. Later though, it's too slow, particularly when the action comes to a dead stop - as it does several times - for various characters to bare their souls.

Finally, the ending is wrong. Actually, there are two of them. The film comes to a logical, almost inevitable conclusion and the screen fades to black. Then the picture returns for a conventional "Hollywood" finish that manages to be simultaneously hopeful and insincere.

It's almost enough to make audiences forget one of Wesley Snipes' most complex roles. He's able to make Roemello's inner struggles seem completely real and believable. Even though he's a character who has committed the most serious crimes, he's still sympathetic and attractive.

If the rest of the film had equalled his performance, "Sugar Hill" might have been another `Godfather."

\ Sugar Hill ** 1/2

A Twentieth Century Fox release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 120 min. Rated R for strong language, graphic violence.