Finally, someone is smart enough to do something to combat drugs other than create meaningless catch phrases such as "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs."

Mario Van Peebles' "New Jack City" gives a close-up view of the ravages the drug epidemic has created in New York City over the past decade.

A strange assemblage of actors, including rapper Ice-T, "Saturday Night Live" trouper Chris Rock and post-brat packer Judd Nelson, provide the film with a rough edge that matches well with the street-smart theme. Special recognition goes to Ice-T for turning in a particularly strong performance. The rapper created a stir when he received higher billing than Frank Sinatra in "Listen Up," a feature film about Quincy Jones. In this film, the stir Ice-T creates comes from his solid acting ability, which is rare for a popular music performer. Madonna should take acting lessons from this guy.

What makes "New Jack City" a better film than a typical good guy triumph over bad guy scenario is the immediacy of the story, and the complexity of the issues it raises. The cops aren't badge-toting saints who are above such human emotions as revenge. These cops are former drug abusers, who have personal reasons for wanting to rid the streets of its filth.

The story begins in 1986, as the camera flies high over the run-down tenaments, showing the destitution that drug problem has only worsened. A series of shots spliced together show the problem's pervasiveness. Over quick shots of drug deals taking place, an a cappella song croons "Money, money, money," the driving force behind this billion-dollar-a-year industry.

An abrupt switch to 1989 shows small schoolchildren chanting anti-drug slogans. A boy bends to snatch his soccer ball out of a puddle, in which many crack vials are floating. The irony of the small band of children learning to fight drug abuse in an atmosphere riddled with it is striking, and shows the near hopelessness of the situation.

The bad guy through all of this, and the head drug lord in the city, is Nino Brown, played with matter-of-fact realism by Wesley Snipes. He knows the score, knows the system is corrupt, and takes full advantage of the situation. "You've gotta rob to get rich in the Reagan era," Brown says, and the drug-addicted poor people of the city are his victims. As one recovering addict notes, "Nino is one sick genius."

Other than the film's decent acting, the most prominent star of "New Jack City" is the camera. While this film has been condemned for excessive violence, it really is no worse than any other gangster film, except that the camera zooms in close to the action and will not let the viewer's eye divert to anything else.

Perhaps the camera's best use to reinforce the film's point comes during the shots of the drug users. Slanted camera angles in extreme close-up force the viewer to vicariously experience the distorting high the user feels. No scare tactic slogan could be more effective than the sweat-laden bodies desperately sucking on their pipes, eyes bulging, looking close to death.

The film's startling conclusion calls into question the effectiveness of the U.S. justice system, and maps a sad fate for the forces in the drug war.