Light it Up takes place in Lincoln High School, a run-down facility in south Queens. The roof leaks, it’s poorly lit, there aren’t enough books, and the broken windows can’t prevent the fake snow from blowing into the classrooms. I have serious doubts that a school like this could exist today in the United States. In Mr. Knowles’ (Judd Nelson, Suddenly Susan) class, the school’s best and most popular teacher shows his students the irony of the murders of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi, both of whom were killed trying to bring about change through the use of nonviolent protest. The message, of course, is that violence begets violence. Which is funny, because about five minutes later, a student is sticking a gun into a cop’s face.

The cop is NYPD Officer Dante Jackson (Forest Whitaker, Phenomenon) and this is his first day at the school. He’s described by the film’s narrator as a "fi’ dolla’ cop wit’ a fi’ty dolla’ attitude." When Jackson sees this student/narrator blocking the stairway, he tells the student to move. The student cops an attitude, then his friend shows up and cops a bigger attitude, showing no respect for authority by putting his hands on Jackson. The students and Jackson tussle, resulting in the officer accidentally shooting himself in the leg and losing his weapon in the struggle.

The student/narrator is Zacharias "Ziggy" Malone (newcomer Robert Ri'chard) and his criminal cohort is Lester Dewitt (Usher Raymond, She’s All That). We later learn that Lester has a problem with the police because his unarmed father was gunned down by the NYPD three months ago. His father probably would have avoided being shot if he had simply shown an ounce of respect for the police officers, but instead copped an attitude. Like father, like son. Light it Up even includes some Rodney King-type footage of Lester’s dad being beaten and kicked by the fuzz, thrown in just to make the film more incendiary.

Lester screams, "I’m sick and tired of being told I’m wrong before I open my mouth." Shut up and pay attention in class, and maybe you’ll be right once in a while. Lester yells, "I’m sick and tired of being treated like a criminal," while holding a gun on the defenseless Jackson. He obviously missed the day they taught irony in English class. Lester complains, "The first day – the first ten minutes, you made up your mind about us." This from a kid that put his hands on a police officer ten seconds after seeing him.

After the school is evacuated, Lester, Ziggy and their hostage remain inside the building with four other Breakfast Club-type stereotypes: Stephanie Williams (Rosario Dawson, Kids) is the princess, evoking memories of Molly Ringwald’s Claire. Rodney J. Templeton (Fredro Starr, Sunset Park) is the hard-edged alpha-male gangster, replacing Judd Nelson’s Bender. Lynn Sabatini (Sara Gilbert, Roseanne) is the quiet loner, bringing to mind Ally Sheedy’s Allison. And Marcello Robinson (Message in a Bottle) plays the same role as Emilio Estevez’s pot-smoking Andrew. Think casting Judd Nelson was a coincidence?

Once the news hits the street, civilians take to the school with signs supporting the students, who have become known as The Lincoln 6. This is probably the most believable part of the film, since people seem to love inciting criminal activity. Remember the people with the "Go Juice!" signs during OJ’s Bronco chase? These morons also clash with police for no good reason. The hostage negotiator (Vanessa L. Williams, Soul Food) seems legitimately concerned about the welfare of the children, but she shouldn’t. They all should have been shot on sight. There were plenty of clean chances.

Light it Up’s biggest flaw is to pretend that the kids are really revolting against the sorry state of their school, when the whole thing really started because some stupid kid refused to respect an authority figure. It’s almost an afterthought when the kids make a list of demands – fix the window, fix the roof, give us a career day – and their shallow sentiment shows through the entire film.

1:35 - for language and violent, riot-inciting content