As the cover of the DVD notes 'This is the truth. This is what's real.'; Menace II Society is a gritty, urban drama that unfolds around an 18 year old street hustler named Caine (Tyrin Turner) over one summer. The film was written and directed by Albert and Allen Hughes (aka The Hughes Brothers), in their debut to the big screen.
'R' rating is for continual use of profanities, violence, and sexual situations.
*spoiler alert*
The film opens with Caine and his friend O-Dog (Larenz Tate) going to a convenience store for beer. O-Dog ends up shooting both of the owners for disrespecting him, and this is just the beginning. Menace II Society takes place in south central Los Angeles; we learn Caine lives with his grandparents because his mother is dead from an OD and his drug slinging father was killed in a deal gone bad when Caine was 10 years old.
Caine deals crack in the neighborhood, and half of his friends are also street thugs just like him.
The summer continues to unfold with Caine getting tangled in a series of "bad situations". Caine and his cousin Harold are out driving after a party one night, and some gang members shoot and kill Harold over some "prior incident". O-Dog soon learns the identity of these guys so he, Caine, and their friend A-Wax track the two shooters down, and kill them them in retaliation.
After this, Caine and O-Dog try to steal a car which lands Caine in jail for short time, O-Dog being a minor avoids jail. Now back out, Caine buys a stolen car for himself, then car jacks a guy, solely to steal his rims. He meets a girl named Ilena that he gets pregnant, but does not want to take any responsibility for. Ilena's cousin shows up to confront Caine about her being pregnant and Caine's response is to sucker punch then stomp him while he is on the ground. Driving one afternoon soul searching about where his life is headed, Caine and his friend Sharif get pulled over by the LAPD, assaulted, and then left in a Latino gang's neighborhood. The Latinos, however, assist the two by taking them to the hospital.
Caine soon becomes involved in a sexual relationship with a mentor's former girlfriend named Ronnie (Jada Pinkett Smith). This father figure/mentor we learn is in jail (for life) for murder. The film winds down with Caine deciding to leave with Ronnie - she was moving to Atlanta with her young son. Ilena's cousin, as retaliation for the prior beat down, pulls a drive-by shooting on moving day, killing Sharif and Caine. Credits roll.
Menace II Society is one of the great films of the 1990's for the writing, direction, acting, and production. This film looks and feels rough and tense; it is very capable of making people feel uncomfortable about many of the social problems and criminal activities that were highlighted throughout. It is hard to call Menace straight entertainment versus what is (likely) a fictionalized account of real life and/or real incidents occurring in the Watts/ Compton areas of Los Angeles for black young adults in the early 1990's. I will note I have not read or seen any background on the characters of this movie as to whether or not they were based on real people.
Turner does a brilliant job as Caine; he is able to walk the tightrope of giving us a central character that we can never really love or hate, outright, in either direction. I feel like there were shades of redemption possibly arriving by the end, only to see Caine cut down as a result of his prior actions. In a voice-over at the conclusion there is recognition by Caine for the events that led him to this point, but "..now, it's too late."
Strong supporting actors in Samuel L Jackson, Charles Dutton, Smith, and Tate show us how Caine seems to pulled in multiple directions through the summer, and what what we believe ultimately leads to his undoing.
Unlike other similar urban drama films in the early 90's, there appeared to very little hope at the end of this, outside of the characters who reportedly "leaving". It seems we are meant to think life for these young adults will either end in a violent death or they will end up in prison. I very much appreciated that beginning to end, there was nothing I felt that was sugar-coated, and that is very rare in film.
The Hughes Brothers have given us a very "in your face" film in Menace II Society; while the overall outlook may be somewhat grim, I consider it outstanding and I highly recommend seeing it.
Extras:
- The word 'fuck' and its variants was used over 300 times, which was a record when this movie came out.
- Tupac Shakur was originally cast in the film as Sharif, however, he got into a fight with Allen Hughes which got him fired and landed him in jail for 15 days.
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