Directed by: Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes
Starring: Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, Jada
Pinkett, and Samuel L. Jackson
Like
any great black crime film, Menace II Society takes place in the ghetto of Los
Angeles. Eighteen-year-old Caine (Tyrin
Turner) lives with his grandparents (Marilyn Coleman & Arnold Johnson) and
lives a life of crime despite their best efforts. The boy has no prospects for a future, he
associates with people like O-Dog (Larenz Tate), a fugitive of the law, and he
runs from the responsibilities of fatherhood after impregnating a young girl
named Ilena. Despite all these major
character flaws, there is some semblance of hope for Caine. His friend and one-time lover Ronnie (Jada
Pinkett) is moving to Atlanta for a job and has asked him to come with her to
escape the ghetto life. However,
escaping the life of the streets proves difficult for Caine.
Allen
and Albert Hughes’ directorial debut in Menace
II Society was certainly a gritty one.
They give a vision of ghetto life that is anything but glorified. They show the countless laws that are broken and
the many lives that are wasted. The
Hughes brothers give a bleak and disconcerting outlook on life in the ghetto in
this powerful film. The unnerving
message of this urban flick still rings true today. Menace
II Society gets a sober rating.
