Product Description

Directed by twin brothers, Allen and Albert Hughes, this critically acclaimed cinematic masterpiece brilliantly details real life in today's tough inner city. With the powerhouse performances by Tyrin Turner (Deep Cover), Larenz Tate (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and Jada Pinkett (A Different World), the film also features dynamite supporting roles by Charles S. Dutton (Roc) and Bill Duke (Predator).

DVD Features:
Interviews
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4287 in DVD
• Released on: 1997-10-22
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
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

From The New Yorker
This inner-city crime melodrama, set in Watts, is a speedy, violent, adolescent-cynical take on the no-hope lives of young black men. The filmmakers-twenty-one-year-old twins Allen and Albert Hughes-aren't interested in the tragic irony of the classic gangster film; they aim, instead, for the throwaway, life-is-cheap tone of grimy fifties B-pictures. They move from horror to horror in a businesslike, deadpan way that reflects, with frightening conviction, the thoroughness of their characters' alienation. The Hugheses are so scrupulous, so comprehensive, in their refusal to do the usual things that they leave themselves short on expressive options. As the picture goes along, you actually start to wish it were a little squarer, that the filmmakers would give you something more to hold on to than the grinding pulp momentum that substitutes here for true dramatic structure. The Hugheses achieve some brilliant and memorable sequences, and the lack of sentimentality is a step in the right direction; but the movie winds up running in place. With Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, Jada Pinkett, Vonte Sweet, Glenn Plummer, Bill Duke, Charles S. Dutton, and Samuel L. Jackson. Screenplay by Tyger Williams; cinematography by Lisa Rinzler. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

One of the best
Man this movie is a classic must own. "I'll pay you whn I feel like it" Yall know the rest man I'm tellin you this is a hit!!!!

Maybe I just can't relate...
I'd heard about this movie from EVERYBODY about how good it was and how much of a classic it was. I'm 24 years old and I didn't see it for the first time until 3 years ago. I'm pretty open to all kinds of movies, but the magic wasn't there for me with this one. Maybe I just need to see it again.

5 star movie.
Menace II Society is a very good movie, that has it all. I would say that it's one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.