The first image is a scene of crime photograph of a young black man: all livid wounds, a puddle of drying gore. It's followed by more of the same - all black men ripped apart by bullets - as the titles roll. This is a film about street crack dealers and uneasy violence. It is also the best 'hood movie to date.

Martin Scorsese co-produces, Lee's mentor and the man originally slated to bring Richard Price's monumental novel to the screen. In the event he was greenlighted for Casino and his doubts over the material allowed him pass. In turn De Niro went to Vegas and old sparring partner Harvey Keitel slipped easily into the shoes of homicide detective Rocco Klein, investigating a drug execution in the Projects. The police have arrested Victor (Isaiah Washington), a model citizen with two jobs and a family, but Klein sees the handiwork of his dealing 16-year-old brother Strike (Mekhi Phifer) and determines to right a wrong.

The whodunit structure of Lee's film (adapted by himself and Price) is both flaw and saving grace. They tinker with the novel to the extent where any mystery has been effectively drained away; it gives more impetus to the picture than other 'hood movies but feels lightweight, almost perfunctory. What it provides is much needed shape. The result is we avoid the all too familiar 'hood fatigue.

The performances are uniformly strong. Keitel is playing familiar (a sort of photo-negative of his Bad Lieutenant) but he didn't get to be the value for money actor of choice without consistently coming up with the goods. His partner Larry Mazilli is the equally reliable John Turturro, once again doing some of his best work for Lee (Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever). Delroy Lindo's sinisterly paternal head dealer is a subtle, cruel, malevolent performance. But the real star is the debuting Phifer. His Strike is smart, troubled by a vicious ulcer, a youth who sees the desperation of his contemporaries but not the way out. It's a long, difficult role that Phifer handles with grace. Lee has discovered a new black star here.

Malik Hassan Sayeed shoots all of this with more grit than we've come to expect of Lee. There is no gloss on this claustrophobic, ugly little neighbourhood, and yet the director lets fly with all manner of jittery, impatient, circling camerawork to detail the micro-size of Strike's world. Interrogations are harsh, bleached, over-lit. Towards the end Lee piles on all manner of hallucinogenic effects - floating Keitel through the air; restaging events as drama. It's a gamble that just about pays off.

Not so the climax. Price had 4 years and 600 pages; Lee is dramatically forced to the same conclusion, but restricted to a couple of hours it comes off ringingly false. That and Terence Blanchard's striking but over-cranked score work against what some are calling the director's best film. It's not (that's Do the Right Thing), but it crosses the line a creditable second.