Some of us feel we have only relatively small transgressions to atone for, while others need to be reborn to come even remotely close to accepting responsibility and mending wrongful and destructive habits. By the time King David (DMX of "Cradle to the Grave") is ready to correct his sinful ways Mike (Michael Ealy of "Barbershop") is seething with the need for revenge that only King David’s death will satisfy.

The voice-over of King David (KD) reflects back on the path that brought his young life to a premature conclusion as he looks at himself in a coffin.

KD earns his money as an illegal drug executive. Thugish good looks on the outside hide a rotten to the core inside. Immaculately dressed as he drives around town in his Stuz Blackhawk sports car, KD thinks of himself as God’s gift to women. They should consider themselves blessed if he simply asks their name.

He has a past littered with dead bodies related to betrayed friendships. KD owes a large financial debt to partner-in-crime gangland boss Moon (Clifton Powell of "Friday After Next"). KD contacts Moon to pay back the debt, with plenty of extra juice added to it. He is more than willing to do so because he wants to operate in the open in LA once again. Although much of the story is set in LA, it’s important to note that when the camera focuses on a license plate without the name of a state, it was telling us what we were seeing could occur in Anytown, USA.

Mike is one of the men assigned by Moon to collect his money. Mike also has a score to settle with KD. After he is attacked, alongside aspiring journalist Paul (David Arquette of "Eight Legged Freaks"), Paul drives KD to the hospital where KD dies on the operating table. Moon needs to clean things up, which means that Paul and Mike must die. An unexpected causality in a shoot-out, that is on par with the demise of James Caan at the toll booth in "Godfather," results in Mike seeking savage revenge for Moon.

Shown via flashbacks, while Mike is seeking his revenge against KD and Moon, although KD is ready to fix things with Moon, the way KD treats his lovers has not changed. KD’s relationships with two women, Janet (Jennifer Sky of "Shallow Hal") and Juanita (Reagan Gomez-Preseon, "Love Don’t Cost a Thing"), elevate this film far beyond most movies about hip-hop, gangs and drugs. The manner in which he seduces them into using cocaine, heroin, and worse is unforgettably realistic.

"We reap what we sow" and the link between redemption and responsibility is the real theme of the movie. Some, who live in a glorified illegal environment, may look at life with a short horizon, but that need not be so. It may be sweet and intense at times, but the bitter aftertaste comes all too quickly in the form of a closed coffin lid.

The temptation of recreational drugs is indeed a slippery slope that begins with a first step into quicksand. For a family that is having difficulties talking to their kids about substance abuse or has a child that has already begun to experiment, this may be the time for an uncomfortable family outing that may save a life and a lot more tears.