Title to subject matter, casting to setting, “Die Like a Man” is a by-the-numbers LA-gangland tale that takes its best shot at leaving no “number” out.

Latin teen who celebrates his 17th birthday by “becoming a man” with a gang initiation shooting? Mentor who “knew your dad” in Chino or some such? Latin teen who has to choose between his mother, his girlfriend and a gang?

What writer-director Eric Nazarian’s debut feature lacks in originality it somewhat compensates for with grit.

But it’s a pokey affair, a slow saunter down a path many movies have walked before. There’s little urgency to the action of the character’s “decision” or the over-familiar arc of story that this few-days-in-the-life story tells. It’s uncertain grasp of ages and timeline make it feel out of its date, or just plain dated.

Miguel Angel Garcia of “The Long Game” stars as Freddy, a kid who narrates that he’s nicknamed “Casper, like the ghost” by his friends, even if we never hear anybody call him by that name. “Ghost” or not, he’s growing up fast on the mean streets of “the Four Corners, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Culver City and Sawtelle” and the concrete canyon of the LA River.

His working mom (Berenice Valle) may wonder what he wants for his 17th birthday, but she hasn’t a clue. Today’s the day he gets wings tattooed on his back. Today’s a day girlfriend Luna (Mariel Moreno) has ordained that he get lucky. And today’s the day his dreadlocked mentor, Solo (Cory Hardrict) has set aside for him to “be a man” and learn the rule of “the threes and fours.”

Those are the caliber bullets you use if you’re trying to kill someone. Solo has the target picked out and the snub-nosed .38 ready. All Freddy needs to do is show up and pull the trigger.

The kid voice-over narrates like the hardcase he longs to be, even after his latest bloody beating.

“Only two kinds of people out there. Those who lost and those who lose.”

He inherits his father’s prison crucifix necklace and a legacy. “Everything (his father) schooled me on I’m a’teach you,” Solo sermonizes.

But will his mother, Luna and others be able to intervene so that he can break the cycle?

Pacing is a real problem with this picture as it’s the main reason we notice a screen story has no “urgency.” Nobody ever breaks their slow stride. The choices that show up are stark and abruptly introduced. The moment his mom sees his tattoo she lays down her cards.

Choose. “You Mom or your friends.”

As for Solo?

“Why don’t you stop hangin’ around him?”

She’s not very convincing, nor are pleas from Luna or man-to-man chats with Mom’s latest beau (Frankie Loyal).

Leads Garcia, Moreno and Hardrict are sharp, and Cesar Garcia brings gravitas to the role of the intended shooting victim. The supporting players mostly have one note to hit — angry and “hard.” Curiously, no Spanish and almost no Spanglish is spoken by the locals, young and old, or the gang-bangers.

But the film’s primarcy shortcoming is that “Die Like a Man” meanders when it should stomp. It’s a day-in-the-life story that should march towards deathly inevitability or the inevitable it avoids. It doesn’t.

With a story, setting, characters and even dialogue this over-familiar, the best favor you can do your movie is to plow through these paint-by-number touches at speed, giving our hero barely a moment to catch his breath and reconsider his choices.

“Die Like a Man” takes entirely too long to bleed out.

Rating: Unrated, violence, sexual situations, profanity

Cast: Miguel Angel Garcia, Mariel Moreno, Cory Hardrict, Cesar Garcia, Frankie Loyal and Berenice Valle

Credits: Scripted and directed by Eric Nazarian. A Gravitas Ventures release on Amazon Prime.

Running time: 1:59