Menace II Society

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD Imported: USA

The place is Watts, but it could be any urban area blighted by guns and poverty. The person is 18-year-old Caine, but he could be any young man in the 'hood. The movie could only be Menace II Society, the bravura, uncompromising look at Caine's spiral - from missed opportunities to inescapable missteps - into the inner-city cycle of hate and death. The filmmaking duo The Hughes Brothers (Dead Presidents, From Hell) made their feature debut with this urgent instant classic now available in a compelling Extended Director's Cut. The actors (including Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate and Jada Pinkett) electrify. The pace sears. And Menace II Society hits with an emotional impact that will leave you stunned.
Tyrin Turner may not have broken out into stardom as was initially expected, but his work in Menace II Society is one of the more powerful cinematic debuts. The film, from the brother writer-director team of Allen and Albert Hughes, chronicles life in the Los Angeles 'hood. Similar territory was covered in the equally commanding Boyz N the Hood, but what makes this cautionary tale stand out is not only the Hughes brothers' forceful story, (written with their friend, Tyger Williams) and direction, but the naturalness of then-newcomer leads Turner as Caine, Larenz Tate as O-Dog, and Jada Pinkett as Ronnie. They are so credible--occasionally frighteningly so--that the repressive universe of violent ghetto life is captured effectively. Life as portrayed here--and no doubt accurately so--is both figuratively and literally narrow. As a very young boy, Caine witnesses his dad murdered over something inconsequential, and his mom OD. His is a world where respect comes from intimidation, power from violence. Despite his understanding of right and wrong (values passed on by a good friend, his kind grandparents, a caring teacher), his life and its entrapments are too much to overcome. --N.F. Mendoza