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The directorial debut of twin brothers Albert and Allen Hughes, Menace II Society is a tough, no nonsense look at youthful black life in the Watts section of Los Angeles. The Hughes Brother's movie charts the hapless life of Caine (Tyrin Turner) as he seeks to escape the ghetto. The son of both a drug dealer (Samuel L. Jackson in a potent appearance) and an addict, Tyrin, surrounded by guns and a machismo culture, is tied to his friends and the way of life afforded him. Even as love and a chance of a way out arises with Jada Pinkett's (terrific) pretty Ronnie, it's doubtful if Tyrin will escape from the revolving door of death.

Menace II Society had a troubled beginning, refused a video certificate on the grounds of its profane language and brutally violent scenes, it has since gone on to be viewed as one of the finer exponents of anti-violence involving Black Americans. That wasn't always the case though, many critics in the 90s were prone to calling it a film that glamorises the lifestyle of "Hood" gangsters, but offered a saver of sorts by correctly saying it had realism in amongst the harshness. Certainly the dialogue and regional slang was refreshing to hear, thus affording "Menace" and its makers praise for keeping it real, so to speak.

Ineviatbly comparisons were (are) drawn with John Singleton's 1991 film, Boyz n the Hood. But although "Menace" is rawer, uncompromising and more visceral with impact, it lacks the intelligence of Singleton's film. Where "Boyz" had fully rounded characters, character with which to hang your hat on to, "Menace" is just a social group of youths we neither know or care about outside of the group, ego driven dynamic. When lead protagonist Tyrin is trying to deal with his inner conflict, we the audience are treated to standard run of the mill melodrama. The streetwise edginess that the Hughes' began their film with (the opening is nigh on horrific) has long since gone as they try to make a film that touches all the bases of Black Americana.

Easily the most realistic of all the ghetto films made, in fact the film at times feels like we are on a documentary drive around downtown Watts. Menace II Society, however brutal it clearly is, has loaded the gun and shot the bullet, only to see it narrowly miss the whole target it was aiming for. Still it's one hell of an experience though. 8/10

Back then the Hughes Brothers would never even name Boyz'N'the Hood. Not just because it wasn't their influence, but because people like to compare movies. Especially when it seems like they are similar. And I say seem, because while the surface may suggest that, this is a whole different beast of a movie and a story.

This is way more gritty and no one will tell you that it is a feel good story. But the influence of Scarface and other movies of that kind are apparent. Like a Goodfellas tracking shot and many other things. The brothers may have been very young, but they knew what they wanted ... and they were lucky enough to get (most of?) it! Like the cast, but also the overall finance for the movie ... which brings us back to Boyz ... over the years they themselves came to terms, that their movie probably got green-lit because of the success of Boyz ... and that's not a bad thing.

And while this is down and dirty, like Scarface it's a warning, a tale of things that can and will go wrong. What goes around, comes around ... there's a lot to read into this, but the Hughes Brothers wanted show how things were ... and the influence of the movie was felt. Especially with other movies trying to copy or at least pay homage to Menace ...

Menace II Society is much more than your typical hood movie. It tells the story of young Caine Lawson, a teen growing up in Watts, California.

The opening briefly shows Caine getting caught up in a grocery store shooting with his friend. This was a chilling way to open the movie, as it shows how easy it is for someone in the ghetto to get caught up in the moment and kill someone. During the opening credits, we see footage of the Watts riots that took place during the 60's. Caine narrates the story of his life, explaining how after the riots, drugs came into effect, and affected his home life as a child. After loosing his parents on at the hands of drugs, he was sent to live with his Grandparents. His Grandparents love him, but they struggled to raise him and tried their hardest to keep him out of trouble.

Not too long into the movie, after we learn about Caine's early life, we see him graduate from High School. He hopes to leave the life of violence that surrounds him in his neighborhood. After falling victim to a violent car jacking, he is brought into violence and crime himself. As the story progresses, and things spiral downward for Caine, he ends up in a hell of a jam and tries to make a way out of it all.

This is an incredible movie. It perfectly balances the ugly crime life and murder of tough inner city neighborhoods, Caine's own personal troubles, police brutality, and drugs.

This is a powerful movie with a great story. It has a good message, but in some ways, I thought the film Boyz N the Hood showed the message in a better way. Menace II Society is more focused on the crime involved in inner cities, where as Boyz N the Hood focuses more on the family life of the characters.

This is an excellent film that you should see if you ever get the chance. It has a good message, and it has some very moving moments in it.

If you enjoyed this, I also recommend Boyz N the Hood, and you'll probably enjoy the Wayans brothers' spoof, Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.

Extremely brutal, but gripping and compelling story of a volatile, alienated young teenager (Turner) growing up in the violent atmosphere of the L.A. Watts District and—against the advice of family and friends—makes no effort to transcend the harshness and ignorance of his surroundings, instead choosing to head down a dead-end path. Violent, almost unbearable at times, but faultlessly acted by the cast, and filled with powerful, authentic scenes. Tate is an absolute powerhouse as Turner's younger, impulsive, and extremely cold-blooded pal. Obviously not for all tastes, but a monumental achievement regardless, thanks to a superior cast of actors. ***½

I saw this film the weekend it opened. At the time I was 33, a white male living in NYC. When I went to the theater, I noticed that most of the audience was Black and in their late teens. For some reason, they felt that this was a good "date" movie. When the movie began, and the Korean Grocery scene was presented, the audience went wild with comments like "Yeah, Yeah, Kill them!!". I must say I got a little nervous. But, as the movie progressed, I got absorbed in it. I liked Cane and I even liked O'Dog. When the movie ended, I started crying. I was embarassed. Then I noticed that the Black teenage guys around me were crying too. I applaud the Hughes Brothers for making a movie that is able to connect with so many people. I still cry while watching it on video. "Do you care if you live or die?"

Announcing the arrival of directing duo and siblings Albert and Allen Hughes, Menace II Society may feel like a product of its time watched in today's day and age but its confronting look at life in the mean streets of the Los Angeles hoods is still an insightful and noteworthy expose.

Filled with more than a few movies worth of expletives, over the top and bloodthirsty violence and some acting scenes (particularly death scenes) that don't quite stand up to modern expectations, Menace is a rough and raw product from the Hughes brothers but one filled with some genuine heart and a clear goal to deliver an unsavoury look at the sometimes oddly glorified gang life.

Telling the story of Tyrin Turner's Caine, who seems to have a decent brain at his disposal and the care of his grandparents who want him to make something of his life outside of street hustling and drug taking, Menace sees Caine caught in a seemingly unstoppable cycle of bad decisions and life events as his friendship with the loose cannon O-Dog (played by a hamming it up Larenz Tate) leads him down a path destined for failure.

There's nothing overly original about Menace's plot of set-up and a few instances throughout the film feel slightly over-played or Hollywoodized but there's enough authenticity and soul to the Hughes film that it ensures Menace can overcome these issues to be a socially relevant and necessary look at life in the shady suburbs of one of the worlds most famed cities.

Not as dramatically rich or character strong as heavy hitting classic Boys in the Hood or as well structured as Get Rich or Die Tryin or Straight Outta Compton, Menace feels like the type of small-scale effort that is restricted by a limited budget and tools at its disposal but the way it captures the time and place of Caine and O-Dog's environment is commendable, as the two friends but different souls navigate their coming of age in a landscape that promotes violence as a way of life.

Not easy going viewing and not a film for light entertainment, this is in your face filmmaking with little to no nuances, which fits the bill for its subject matter in a matter of fact and necessary way.

Final Say -

Not aging as finely as some of its other 90's counterparts, Menace II Society is still a unique and insightful look into the gang culture that many in the United States have refused to properly acknowledge for far too long.

3 Drive-Thru robberies out of 5

Okay, after 20 years of reading and hearing about this movie by The Hughes (Albert and Allen) Brothers, I finally watched Meanace II Society on YouTube. Mainly about teen hood Caine (Tyrin Turner) and his life with fellow South Central L.A. pal O-Dog (Larenz Tate), among other events of that time, I found the whole thing a little upsetting with what I've now found out had the most use of the f-word of any of these black movies I've been watching these last few days, not to mention the constant violence. Still, it does get better when Caine's possible girlfriend Ronnie (Jada Pinkett before becoming Mrs. Will Smith) offers a possible out by moving out with her and her son Anthony (Jullian Roy Doster) to Atlanta. But then another girl he fooled around with named Ilena (Erin Leshawn Wiley) tells him she's pregnant and...oh, watch the film if you want to know. In summary, Menace II Society didn't really pick my interest until the last 30 minutes and I started to see it in a whole new light. So on that note, I highly recommend it with reservations.

Caine Lawson (Tyrin Turner) and best friend O-Dog (Larenz Tate) go into a grocery store. O-Dog takes offense from the Korean storekeeper's comment and shoots him and his wife. Caine's father (Samuel L. Jackson) was a drug dealer and cold-hearted killer. He grew up with his grandparents. Caine and his cousin Harold are carjacked. Harold is murdered. O-Dog and Caine go to kill the carjackers. O-Dog is gleeful about his murderous spree while Caine is much more hesitant. Caine is eventually arrested for the grocery store killings and his life spirals downwards.

The Hughes brothers are able to bring a vision of urban gangsterism that is cold-hearted and bleak. Larenz Tate is amazing as the unflinching joyful killer. His glee and pride of killing the Korean couple is the best in the movie. Tyrin Turner is not as compelling as an actor. The movie essentially follows the less interesting character. Caine is portrayed more as a regular guy struggling against his bad upbringing and his surroundings. It would be better to have O-Dog beside him voicing the evil side for the entire movie.

Menace II Society shows growing up in an impoverished urban area plagued by violence by detailing numerous different perspectives; compassion, aggression, resistance, compliance, brute force, contentment, and more. Various scenes in the film, which is largely a string of vignette-style events strung together rather than a fully formed plot, focus on characters discussing their motivations to either combat or work around the violence in their area, with some choosing to try and fight it by contributing to it, and others simply trying to function in a community that is more like a warzone.

The Hughes Brothers, Albert and Allen, who directed and co-wrote the film with Tyger Williams, craft their film around two young black teens growing up in South Central Los Angeles. One is Kaydee "Caine" Lawson (Tyrin Turner), who's father was a drug dealer killed when he was only ten, while his mother was a heroin addict who died shortly after. He went on to live with his grandparents, though their strict, moralist attitudes rooted in religion didn't stop Caine from becoming a petty drug dealer like his father. The other young man is Kevin "O-Dog" Anderson, who shows his best friend Caine what he can really do when the two go to a Korean-owned cornerstore to buy malt liquor and the owners watch them suspiciously and nervously walk around the store. After the cashier makes a derogatory comment, O-Dog loses his cool and winds up shooting both the cashier and his wife before robbing the cash register and taking the surveillance tape. Just another day in South Central, it seems.

The film winds up showing the day-to-day life of Caine and O-Dog, which involves Caine nearly dying after being shot in a carjacking, as well as petty crime involving cracking cars for insurance money. We also get a glimpse in the life of Ronnie (Jada Pinkett), a single-mother with a young son she is desperately trying to shelter from the bleak environment and unrelenting violence that engulfs the neighborhood. Her character's introduction begins the Hughes brothers' descent into examining different perspectives of the neighborhood.

Consider the scene where Caine is playing with Ronnie's young son, who is clearly growing up fast for a five-year-old, as he loves to be able to hold Caine's pistol, drink liquor, and hang out with the crowd of older boys. Ronnie is disgusted by Caine's compliance with allowing her son to hold a pistol and hang with his friends as they sip some of their ostensibly endless supply of malt liquor and smoke marijuana. Caine claims that this is for the young boy's good, as this is a rough and rugged neighborhood that laughs at kids who are kept from witnessing the violence in such a miserable landscape. The Hughes brothers allow you, as a member of the audience, to judge for yourself on both perspectives and hear each of their characters out; it is because of this even-handed approach that we see that Caine's point, while holding weight, also shows the cyclical pattern of young black men getting incarcerated or killed at a young age due to violent crime or the solicitation of drugs, and we understand Ronnie's protectiveness as a parent, but wonder if that approach is also just buying time for another funeral.

The Hughes Brothers take a very liberal approach to Menace II Society in terms of crafting its characters. Unlike John Singleton's directorial debut Boyz N The Hood, a film that illustrates how and why you should care about its characters and why they are all smart men stuck in a hopeless situation, Menace II Society never gives you a reason to like Caine and O-Dog. By the conventionality of Hollywood cinema, we, the audience, should detest Caine and O-Dog for their criminal ways and their unconscionable resort to violence and immediate gratification whenever they get the chance. The Hughes Brothers likely feel the same way, but they challenge us to find reasons for us to care about them throughout the course of the film, and see if we can find even some sympathy for their situations.

For much of the film, I didn't feel too sympathetic, until the third act, which takes a strikingly raw turn. Granted much of the film is captured with a gritty sense of realism, one doesn't really see the ugliness unfold until the third act, when karmic revenge circumvents and finds its lead characters unprepared to lie in the bed they've made for themselves. Menace II Society's only lacking feature is the Hughes brothers' directorial choices; the camera never seems to stay still, and either finds itself oscillating around the main characters in a 360 degree fashion or loosely tracks its location in a way that sort of oddly details spatial relations between characters and their surroundings when there's really no need to do so.

With all that being said, Menace II Society winds up using its narrative and directorial grittiness in a manner that's germane to its illustration of various character perspectives in how to deal with growing up in a tumultuous neighborhood. The end result bears all the pain, immediate gratification, and whirlwind of emotions you'd expect and winds up being one of the strongest dramas I've yet to see that details the hood in a painfully realistic light. Finally, it works to emphasize that while your drug-dealing and violent crime is indeed a menace to society, it's also makes, perhaps equally significant, a menace to yourself.

The feature debut of the Hughes brothers brings us the story of the life of young people in the Los Angeles ghetto. "Menace II Society" focuses on Caine (Tyrin Turner), the son of a drug dealer father and an addict mother, who grows up surrounded by scum and crime, but to which he does not belong in the soul and from which he tries to escape. Unfortunately, too late.

"Menace II Society" is reminiscent of "Goodfellas" in its structure, and in essence a black version of "American History X". It's relentless and explicitly brutal, and while it's considered one of the most realistic portrayals of 1990s ghetto life, I think it's still rather over the top. Its main assets are the camera and directing, followed by the good acting of most of the characters. But the script is not its strong point.

For the first hour, the film is on the verge of boring, a mediocre crime drama about life in the ghetto, and only in the last third does it gain weight. But just when you are properly drawn into the story, the experience is spoiled by a couple of unnecessarily melodramatic scenes, without real emotional strength, and if you didn't predict the end at the beginning, it will be crystal clear to you now.

Also, the characters only function as part of the group and their environment, while individually they are two-dimensional and you will not get attached to them and sympathize with them. On top of that, the main character is probably the most uninteresting of them all, even irritating at times.

Although extremely negative, O-Dog is by far the most charismatic character in the film. The debut performance of the eighteen-year-old Tate is simply infectious, but it gives the film a note of propagating violence and crime, which the Hughes brothers did not intend. There's also a young Jada Pinkett, as well as a small but very impressive appearance by Samuel L. Jackson as Caine's father.

All in all, good cinematography and acting, and brutal realism are spoiled by the lack of a well-constructed story and characters that would arouse sincere emotions, and the dramatic ending loses its power because it is obvious from the very beginning.

6,5/10.

Ok let me be honest. When I saw this in the theatre I wasn't impressed. But I couldn't stop going back to see it. And then it dawned on me that this movie is indeed a great movie.

Compared to all of the other "hood" movies this is the best. It contains a message that indeed hits home. Your actions will come back to haunt you. Tyrin Turner and Larenze Tate played great and believable roles.

Of course everyone won't get this movie. But for those who do watch it I hope you get the message.

This the story of a a young man from the hood who attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life but you just know that things aren't going to go well...

I enjoyed this but there is a hell of a lot wrong with it .

Firstly , the dialogue is really baggy . I'm not sure if it's the actual words or the way they are performed.

At no stage was I on the side of any of the characters because they just weren't likeable .

They treated people like dirt , they speak to each other badly and violence is an everyday thing , so when they are in jeopardy, I just wanted them to get what they deserved .

There are much better films on the same subject that were released in the late eighties and early nineties but at no stage was I ever bored , because these are people who live life on the edge and it' almost like watching a car crash about to happen .

Lorenz Tate is the best thing about this film . The only time I've seen him in anything after this , is the Netflix TV series Power and I'm surprised he's not had a bigger career based on this impressive performance.

Comparing Menace 2 Society versus Boyz N The Hood. The nod easily goes to Boyz N The Hood. It had a charm and very likable characters that you felt sorry for and rooted for.

Menace 2 Society offers neither which makes it difficult to really enjoy the film. The lead actor's character is not very likable and had no redeeming values. Larenz Tate plays a psycho with no care. A young Jada Pinckett Smith shines in the movie.

Menace 2 Society is just a simply a depressing and disturbing film that focuses on the negativity and violence of living in the ghetto in the 90's.

Menace was a brilliant film. There are many reasons to it, but I think what makes it so special is it's sense of style. It proves effectively that a gritty street-drama doesn't have to look bad in order to be realistic. Instead of using hand held cams and grainy film the Hughes' shoot their film with style, influenced by John Woo, and action-comics.

The violence used is also excessive and very graphic. There are brutal beatings as well as bloody shootings, all shot much better than your average action-movie. Like as in Dead Presidents, the directors aren't afraid of over-doing anything. Through slow-motion and impressive camera manoeuvering they're making great, exhilarating action.

Well, besides the violence the movie is great in many other ways. The shootings and bloodlettings are just to make it more realistic, which is pretty much the goal of the movie. In heartbreaking detail the main characters narrate us through youth criminality, drug-dealing, racism and a lot of other nasty stuff. The voice-over works really well, making Menace a sort of black "Goodfellas".

The story is great, in some points resembling some greek tragedy, with a storyline used successfully in other movies like Carlito's Way, Goodfellas, American History X and many others. It's about changing your life in time, before it's too late. If you don't change in time, all your past sins will come back to you. The movie is hilarious, sad, suspenseful and very educational for those who think there is racial equality in USA.

The Hughes' are young, aggressive and untouchable film-makers who intend to show you the real world, and do it with style.

The film starts off with the murders at a convenience story, and introduces the voice-over narration of the story. I find that this voice-over does wonders at making the audience sympathize with Caine's character. He was born into this society, and therefore is not to blame for his actions and choices. Though his character is not as unpredictably violent like O-Dog, and is somewhat mild. He doesn't carry a gun, and his demeanour isn't that menacing. The voice-over helps to gain some insight into his thoughts and is thus more humanized.

Tyrin Turner does a great job portraying his character. As a young boy on the edge of adulthood and just out of high school, Caine has no direction in life, and even has trouble answering whether he cares if he lives or dies. The many close-ups show his confusion at times and at others, his indifference to violence, implying his slow immersion into becoming like O-Dog. O-Dog is represented as a bit of a psychopath with no remorse or conscience for life. It takes little to set him off and Tate does a fantastic job of portraying this terrifying character.

This film is well made and the directing shows it. The Hughes Brothers perfectly place juxtapositions of scenes together for maximum impact. The flashback comes in the beginning and establishes Caine's back story while creating sympathy for him. The composition of shots too are done nicely, and complements the way the characters tend to travel in groups.

There is a lot of violence in this though, and it serves to show a realistic representation but can be very brutal. As mentioned before, it takes very little to upset O-Dog and turn him loose. The swearing is also very apparent and not one sentence goes by without them. Sometimes whole conversations go by with just cursing.

Overall a very powerful representation of ghetto society, where importance is on staying together and protecting one's own. Masculinity is also obviously a very big issue as they constantly try to assert themselves through aggression and cursing.

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When Boyz'N The Hood seemed sincere in its approach but a bit sugar-coated, Menace II Society appears to be more realistic regarding the violence that prevails in those neighborhoods.

The script cleverly avoids any manichaeism, and shows well, with a certain fatality, how difficult it is for these adolescents to escape the violence and chose another path that the one that seems to be written for them from their birth.

Carried by convincing actors and well directed, Menace II Society turns out to be really striking and will remain for a lot of people THE best ghetto movie.

Menace to society was a terrifying movie to me growing up in the 90's even though i didn't grow up in a hood like these guys it showed a level of raw needless,unnecessary violence that goes on these ghettos & just like the brilliant Boys n the hood this affected anyone who watched it. Menace is a Classic from the one of the greatest era's of filmmaking the 1990's, back then it was a time of straight out & Stone cold, instant Classic's with films such as Tarantino's Blood Soaked Debut RESERVOIR DOGS then PULP FICTION & the big impact Hood Drama BOYS N THE HOOD & Big Game Changing Blockbusters such as JURASSIC PARK, INDEPENDENCE DAY & MEN IN BLACK, the 90's was my era growing up & Cinema was the greatest in my opinion. Menace definitely is one of the best & most important films to drop in the 90's & it's raw & savage approach to the scary reality of Urban Life in Los Angeles hasn't been captured better or as shocking. The Hughes bro's crafted a small Masterpiece & gave us an outstanding performance from Leranz Tate who played the scarily no-conscience & unpredictable killer O'dog, I'm so surprised he didn't become a much bigger star after this role? At least he was cast again by the Hughes bro's for their next film DEAD PRESIDENTS, another brilliant movie & also stood out along side action star Vin Diesel in the action Thriller A MAN APART. Also of course Tyrin Turner is excellent as the main lead Caine & has cemented his role as one of the most memorable & iconic of probably all the Urban Hood Drama films!!! Also Menace is a great caution tale about doing all that bad stuff they do will always come back to you at some point, so don't do it but it also shows abit of why these kids in the bad neighbourhoods live that type of life, it's hard out there & they're encouraged by all they see. It's a difficult look at their lives because on one hand they're scum for what they do totally & on the other hand it's sad that this is all they know!!! This is an incredibly powerful crime drama & my older bro used to watch it over & over on video so i saw it alot & it was always such a raw emotional watch. The performances are outstanding so real & raw it's like watching a documentary of real hood life in a los Angeles ghetto. You can feel the sticky summer heat in the excellent cinematography & the brutal violence that bursts onto screen there's an atmosphere of dread like you would get in a Horror movie that hangs over our two main characters Cain & O'dog who are living in this hell called a hood & trying to survive the brutality of it all & work out what is right & what's not, it's nightmare they're stuck in.

A very raw powerful look into the ghettos of these American cities & how the gangs operate & how it's a fight for survival & taking a life means absolutely nothing. An outstanding movie with powerful performances. A true Masterpiece from the 1990's & a terrifying look at life in Los Angeles ghettos that truly packs an extremely powerful & emotional punch & one you will never forget!!! A true Cult Classic or Masterpiece? which ever it is it's a BRILLIANT movie that still shocks & has such memorable characters & some dark humour & one of the most memorable & shocking opening scenes in all of Cinema history-The Korean shop scene!!!

Menace II Society portrays urban hood life during the early 1990's perfectly and outstandingly. Unlike Boyz N the Hood, the film gives us an inner perspective on hood violence and the bloody consequences of certain individuals and may I say, they have done it fantastically. The cast members played their role momentously and their performances were exceptional, particularly Tyrin Turner and Larenz Tate.

Although the consistent violent scenes, the movie puts realism in several successful ways and that is why this is one of my favourite films of the 1990's. Powerful and poignant.

This ranks up there with the most graphic depictions of violence ever to make it to the mainstream. Up there with "Bad Lieutenant", "Reservoir Dogs" and a few others from an exceptionally violent period in L.A. -- the arrival of 'bellum omnium contra omnes'(the war of all against all); life in Hobbesian terms: nasty, brutish and short.

Plainly, this is post-"Scarface", "Colors" & "Deep Cover". Mostly it quotes "Goodfellas", the Hughes brothers openly stated that it was a motivating factor. This is plain not only from the framing narration, but from the tethering of the camera to the characters, a la Scorcese.

What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in energy and commitment from all involved. The advertised allure is 'this is what's real', but that's unimportant in movies. What is important is how the content exists as a cinematic experience of vision, audio, the editing of time and the perception of space.

On those dimensions, two things score points: the construction of this around the 'snuff' film, very much like "Henry...". This is very clever self-reference, since the entire movie is a snuff film. The 'film within' acts as a maguffin.

The other is the ending, which quotes "Jacob's Ladder", not only depicting the life flashing before one's eyes, but tying up the loose ends in a visual shorthand.

Too bad the Hughes all but used up their best ideas here, they haven't had any really good ideas since this.

I hate short movies; one hour and thirty minutes to me is really short. Despite being a short movie, the execution and story of this movie is so well done that it makes up for the runtime. You understand both the backstory and present story of what is going on in Caine's life in an aggressive and genius way. I remember watching this when I was 14 and is still my favourite movie 2 years later. So many memorable and profound lines and scenes in this movie which is what makes it extremely re-watchable.

I know its a classic hood movie. I've watched a few months ago the first time. Its different than "Boyz n the hood". Its a very hard gangster movie i would say. Sometime a little bit overdoe for my taste. But all in one i enjoyed it! i wilk watch it again sometime

This movie is so good, I remember specifically the first time I saw it.

I was 17 years old, hanging out with friends, doing the things 17 year olds and the characters in the movie do, in a friend's backyard. On our way out to a movie theater, I ran up to the entertainment room to grab my jacket. As I entered, I heard the first line of "Menace" from a television which had been left on. In the 30 seconds it took me to put on my jacket, I was drawn into the flick.

As the first scene came to a close, my buddies came looking for me. It didn't take long for them to realize that we wouldn't be going anywhere.

At such an age this movie shocked and excited me. It left me in awe and on the edge of tears.

In my early twenties (and after I'd seen it several times), the movie made me laugh out loud. The clever dialog, even in tenuous situations, is genius. Cheeseburgers, anyone?

Now in my late twenties, I consider this a classic. Take your other gang movies and throw them out the window. Boyz n the Hood is the only one that comes close and that takes itself way too seriously. Everything else is just an imitation of this perfectly woven tale.

As long as you can tolerate the violence and not-so-clean language, check this one out. It's simply brilliant.

I just saw Spike Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING and though that film had an entirely different plot, it still was much better due to its superb style and its mix of drama, action and humor. The story in MENACE is all too familiar(it reminded me of CARLITO's WAY and BOYZ 'N THE HOOD)and simply isn't interesting anymore after a while.

There's some good acting in this film and some scenes are very well executed by the Hughes' brothers, but it doesn't make up for a good movie. It's not a bad one either, but it's all too predictable in the end. 6/10