| 4th | Top drama films |
| 30th | Top films set in Los Angeles: 1990s |
| Menace II Society | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Allen Hughes Albert Hughes |
| Produced by | Darin Scott |
| Written by | Screenplay: Tyger Williams Story: Allen Hughes Albert Hughes Tyger Williams |
| Starring | Tyrin Turner Larenz Tate Jada Pinkett Smith Samuel L. Jackson |
| Music by | Quincy Jones III (credited as QD III) |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | May 26, 1993 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
Menace II Society is a 1993 hood film and the directorial debut of twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes. The film gained notoriety for its frequent scenes of strong graphic violence, foul & profane language and drug content. Menace II Society was critically acclaimed for its gritty portrayal of urban violence and its powerful underlying messages.
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The film begins in South Central Los Angeles in the Watts neighborhood with Caine and his friend Kevin, nicknamed "O-Dog", entering a liquor store. Caine begins to drink malt liquor out of the bottle, intending to pay for it when he gets to the register. The Korean storekeeper and his wife watch them suspiciously. As O-Dog is finished paying and is about to leave the store with Caine, the shopkeeper tells O-Dog "I feel sorry for your mother." O-Dog takes offense and shoots the Korean storekeeper and his wife, taking the video surveillance tape of the shooting before he and Caine flee. O-Dog keeps the tape and entertains his friends by showing it to them, and there is talk of a copy being made for others in the neighborhood to watch.
It is the last day of high school and Caine has graduated. During a voice-over, he explains that he deals dope to financially and emotionally support a friend of his, named Ronnie, and her young son Anthony, because her husband, Pernell, is serving life in prison without parole. Pernell was previously Caine's father's partner. Caine lives with his grandparents in the Los Angeles housing project Jordan Downs, and often gets tired of his grandpa going "biblical" and lecturing him about his actions.
That night, Caine and his cousin Harold go to a graduation party. We meet A-Wax, a cocky street thug who, according to Caine, "had been putting work for so long, it got to a point where he just liked to see other people do dirt," Sharif, an "ex-knucklehead" who converted to Islam, and Stacy, a talented football player who earned a scholarship to Kansas. After the party, Caine, Harold, A-Wax, O-Dog, Sharif, and Stacy decide to go out to eat. While Harold and Caine are waiting in traffic, a van pulls up next to them, and they are carjacked at gunpoint. When Harold is slow to surrender his wallet and jewelry, the carjacker shoots Harold dead then fires at Caine, who is hit in the shoulder. Sharif insists they come to Harold's aid or move his body; however, O-Dog insists they rush Caine to the hospital.
A week later, O-Dog informs Caine that he has learned who the gangsters were that shot Caine and his cousin. Later that night, Caine, O-Dog, and A-Wax murder the carjackers.
A few weeks later, Caine and O-Dog are hired to steal a 1990 Nissan Maxima out of a parking structure but are trapped in the building and arrested. O-Dog is released with a warning since he is still seventeen; Caine, however, is charged as an adult, but the authorities lessen the charge to joyriding and let him go after linking him to the liquor store robbery but failing to prove his involvement. He later buys a stolen Ford Mustang from a car shop and robs a youth at a fast-food drive through for his new wheel rims, chains, and his pager.
The following night, Caine and Sharif are beaten by racist policemen and left for dead in Mexican gang territory, apparently with the expectation that the Mexicans will further assault them. The Mexicans take them to a hospital instead.
While Caine is in the hospital, Ronnie tells him that she has found a job in Atlanta and offers to take Caine with her. Caine says he will think about it. A week later, Caine is at a going away party for Ronnie, as well as Stacy and Sharif, who are moving to Kansas. While at the party, Caine tells Ronnie that he will go to Atlanta, and then the two of them have sex. Afterward, Caine is playing cards when he sees another gangster, Chauncy, trying to force himself on Ronnie. O-Dog gives Caine a gun, and Caine pistol whips Chauncy until he has to be pulled away. Chauncy harbors a resentment and turns over a copy of the liquor store murder surveillance tape to the police. Soon afterward, the police start scouring Watts for Caine and O-Dog, who they now realize were in fact the culprits in the Korean liquor store killings.
The next morning, Caine is talking to O-Dog when a man approaches Caine and tells him that he is the cousin of a girl Caine has been accused of impregnating. Caine refuses to take responsibility for the child and brutally assaults the man. This proves to be the last straw for Caine's grandparents who promptly throw him out, despite his pleading to wait until the Atlanta trip.
The day Caine, Ronnie, Stacy and Sharif are preparing to leave Los Angeles, a car drives by and a drive-by shooting takes place—one of the shooters is the man Caine assaulted after denying responsibility for the pregnancy. Sharif is killed immediately, and Caine is shot several times while protecting Anthony. As Caine lies in Stacy's arms dying while O-Dog goes to find help, Caine reminisces on everything that he has done through the summer. There is a flashing image of O-Dog being hustled into a police cruiser in handcuffs, presumably for the liquor store murder committed at the beginning of the movie. Caine admits that he wishes he had made better decisions but now it was too late to correct them, his final thoughts, given in voiceover, are 'I had done too much to turn back, and I had done too much to go on. I guess, in the end, it all catches up with you. My grandpa asked me one time if I care whether I live or die. Yeah, I do. And now it's too late.'
Originally Tupac Shakur was set to play Caine and rapper Spice 1 was set to play O-Dog but they were later dropped because Shakur assaulted director Allen Hughes. They were later replaced with Tyrin Turner and Larenz Tate.[1]
The movie featured realistic dialogue. It was one of the first movies to use the regional slang and dialect of urban blacks in Los Angeles as opposed to the New York black slang and accent that dominated most of urban media.[citation needed] The film has become known for its frequent crude and profane language. For example, the word "fuck" and its derivatives are used 228 times in this 97-minute film (see: List of films that most frequently use the word "fuck"). This was a record up to that time and the film still holds one of the highest fuck per minute rates at 2.35 times per minute.
Menace II Society received positive reviews from critics. The film scored an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews. It has an average rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB.
Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader stated, "This is a powerful, convincing, and terrifying look at teenage crime in contemporary Watts." Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave it a positive review, stating, "Menace II Society is bleak, brilliant, and unsparing." EmanuelLevy.com gave the film an A, saying it is "The most stunning feature debut in the new African American cinema, even more so than Boyz N the Hood to which the coming of age feature bears thematic resemblance."
The film had its share of negative reviews as well. Geoff Andrew of Time Out stated, "Regrettably, the Hughes Brothers' first feature is a compendium of cliches." Stephen Holden of The New York Times stated, "If Menace II Society is terrific on ambiance, it is considerably less successful in revealing character."
There have been many references to the movie in pop culture:
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Menace II Society is the directorial debut film of twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes. A theatrical release hit theaters (nationwide) May 28, 1993, with the movie making an appearance before that, at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Its release at that period was well timed, as the early 1990s were the peak era for the then-popular hood movies.
   | Theatrical trailer - Warner Bros. Movie Trailers: Menace II Society |
| | Warner Online Trailers - Warner Bros. - Movie Trailers |
| | Menace II Society - Menace II Society (1993) |
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