A fine farewell performance from James Van Der Beek in a familiar thriller.

James Van Der Beek has earned his fans with his iconic TV role of “Dawson’s Creek.” I never watched that show, but I still thought his character’s cameo in “Scary Movie” was hilarious. And he also had movie roles like “Varsity Blues,” “Rules of Attraction,” “Labor Day,” and his “Jay and Silent Bob” movie cameos as himself. And when he passed away at the age of 48 from stage II colorectal cancer last February, a lot of us were heartbroken.

His farewell movie performance comes in “The Gates,” a well-intended but routine thriller that deals with race and class, as far as the movie is concerned. I wanted to like this movie, because the recently departed actor is likable as the main antagonist and it should express the right themes. But at the end of the day, I wasn’t really getting much insight or development.

Set in Texas, we meet three African American college students-the sensible Derek (Mason Gooding, currently seen in the awful sequel “Scream 7”), the rude Kevin (Algee Smith in his first movie role since “Shooting Stars”), and football player Tyon (Keith Powers from “Straight Outta Compton”)-who are on their way to a party, but takes detour thanks to bad traffic. They all end up in a gated community and walk up to a house to ask for help, but they witness a local priest (Van Der Beek) murder a woman. That’s when they react and that’s when he sees them, and that’s when they run.

These guys are now trapped in the neighborhood, where residents like the alcoholic coach Christopher (Brad Leland) and a gullible young cop (Kylr Coffman) would think they’re the bad guys. Why? Because most of them are white, they see three black guys running around from house to house, and they’ll believe anything the priest says, as he built this community and brought everyone together.

There are sidetracks, like a party that Kevin and Tyon crash in order to find an escape route. Kevin must rap for these boys who are urban and need someone from the streets, while Tyon talks to the girl Roxy (Sofia Hublitz) who may be a target of sexual abuse. And Derek does come across who may be the only black woman in the neighborhood named Kendra (Natacha Ellie) who basically warns him about how things work here. And this is when the movie gets a little long, even though the actors are likable and the dangers are thrilling.

Gooding, Smith, and Powers have all proven their worth before, and they are all entertaining in “The Gates,” because of how they adapt to the personalities and poetry of these characters. Derek already knew how to respect law enforcers, and the first cop to pull them over recognized him, so maybe it’s not racism after all. And you’re guaranteed that these guys will have their conflicts later in the film. So, it’s not just Van Der Beek we should be praising, and writer/director John Burr guides them all with the right intentions.

But the problem with “The Gates” is that the story goes all over the place and doesn’t allow us to examine the characters they come across during their escape plan. They say and do some things, but it’s not really much of a character study. You might be able to read between their lines, but movie like this should do more than that. It should really delve into the subject matter of the different beliefs system, especially in a gated community like this. And it should be as poetic and outspoken as the actors are. The all speak more than what the screenplay gives them credit for.

In Select Theaters