Strapped

Strapped follows Diquan Mitchell, a young man trying to rebuild his life after prison in New York City. His girlfriend Latisha is arrested for selling crack to an undercover officer, and with a baby on the way, Diquan is desperate to keep her out of prison. He makes a deal with Matthew McRae, a police officer who works weapons cases, agreeing to help identify local gun dealers in exchange for the charges against Latisha being dropped. When the district attorney finds the results insufficient, the arrangement turns into a contest of manipulation and betrayal, leaving Diquan caught between the police and the dealers he has been pressured to expose.

The film is the first feature directed by Forest Whitaker, who went on to make Waiting to Exhale, Hope Floats and First Daughter. Dena Kleiman wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Bokeem Woodbine as Diquan, Michael Biehn as McRae, Kia Goodwin as Latisha, William James Stiggers Jr., Chi Ali and Starletta DuPois as Diquan's mother. Produced by HBO Films, it runs 104 minutes and blends action and drama.

Audience responses were modest: on IMDb it holds a 6.4 rating from about 1,300 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 5.9 from a small number of votes. The figures point to a film that found a limited but steady viewership rather than wide acclaim.