Product Description

A RECLUSE WHOSE SINGULAR FORM OF EXPRESSION IS HER POETRY AND A POSTAL CARRIER WHO RECORDS RAP SONGS TO VOICE HIS INNER RAGE STRUGGLE TO FIND LOVE, HOPE, AND PERSONAL TRANSORMATION.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13201 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1999-03-30
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
Director John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood, Rosewood) made an earnest effort in this, his second, film to say a great deal that is true and relevant about living and loving in a violent, difficult time in American history. Janet Jackson plays a beautician and poet who withdraws into herself after her boyfriend is murdered by gangsters. The late Tupac Shakur plays a postman who tries to get through to her, and the two travel on a course through urban America, connecting with family and community. Singleton has so much on his mind that the film comes out a terrible muddle, but there is a certain integrity peeking through the fog. Shakur makes a startlingly good impression in his film debut, and Jackson strips away her star veneer to play something like a real person--and entirely succeeds. Maya Angelou wrote the poems that pass as those penned by Jackson's character, and she also appears in the film. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker
Four young blacks, including Justice (Janet Jackson) and Lucky (Tupac Shakur), drive from Los Angeles to Oakland over the weekend. This being the movies, it turns out to be a journey of revelation-more for the characters, it has to be said, than for the audience. We sit and doze, while they bicker and smooch. The movie was written and directed by John Singleton, and it marks a depressing departure from his first feature, "Boyz N the Hood,'' which buzzed with rage and frustration. After a punchy start, the new film takes people away from their troubles, but it's a vacation without fun; we watch Justice gazing out to sea, or intoning lines of her own verse, or plunged in what one is reluctant to call thought. The poetry, written by Maya Angelou, clumps along with a confessional earnestness that makes you clench your fists and try not to laugh. The only live wire is Shakur, with his deep wariness of life, who has a couple of sprightly scenes that prod the picture awake. For all its profanity, however, "Poetic Justice" feels oddly conservative in the kinds of feeling that it shares out among its characters (especially the women), and in the cute domestic destinies that it imagines for them. Like Jackson herself (who never gets to sing), the whole enterprise is so poker-faced, and takes itself so seriously, that you're left wondering how Singleton could have shed so much creative energy between one film and the next. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Un-Poetic misinterpretations !!
Originally , I wasn't going to write an online review about this film. Mainly because it came out , over a decade ago. However , I feel the need to defend it , from most of these other reviews.Therefore , I will explain two important points. 1) Alot of people dislike this film for the dialog. The film is based on people who are frustrated with the directions of their lives and the deterioration of their envioronment ( aka:hood ). The profanity might be abundant in the script , but it was coming from characters who vented their frustrations, that way.Not everyone in the hood cusses. But John Singleton's characters, do. Nobody protested Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas. I'm sure not every Italian cusses. 2) Alot of people say that there's too many things going on , in the movie. John Singleton said , in the commentary , that he deliberately , filmed that way. He was trying to cappture the realism of everyday life and exemplify the fact that things are still happening , irregardless of the problems of our central characters. Personally , I think John Singleton, did a phenominal job of juggling other delimas, from the side characters, without sacrificing the importance, of the dynamics between Justice and Lucky. Another director would've totally blown the task , altogether. As for the dvd , it offers a director's commentary ( which some reviewers , obviously didn't watch ) and previews of other Singleton, films. The film's theme is simple : Love can conquer all. All acting performances are excellent and the soundtrack is good ( old and new school , atleast in '93 ). * The featured cameo appearances, of Mayu Angelo, The Last Poets,and the dedicated acting from Tupac Shakur and Regina King, cement "Poetic Justice",into a significant and unforgettable film.

Surprisingly Good
All I ever remember hearing about this movie when it came out is how bad it was overall, or how Janet and Tupac didn't act very well. Come to find out, they were wrong. This movie is very well made, and Janet and Tupac work wonderfully together. The film is very sad at parts, then can turn around and be "abrasive" because of the language and subject material -- but don't be mistaken, the movie more accurately depicts the people and places where the movie occurs because of this "abrasiveness."

The poems that Justice (Janet) reads/writes throughout the film were all done by Maya Angelou, who makes a cameo in the movie too (I was sort of shocked to see her in it). Poetic Justice is a very good film, but be warned there is language, "sexual situations" (pretty mild though), and violence. If you like Jan. or Tupac, then you'll most likely really enjoy the film, and even if you don't have a thing for either, you will still be thoroughly entertained. It's a wonderful movie if you can handle the subjects involved.

A good street romance
It's not the follow up that wasn't as strong as it should have been for someone of Singelton calibar but it's still a good movie. Jackson and Shakur made their mark in this movie and keeps your attention. Check this out with Sineglton's other films in the ghetto trilogy, Boyz in the Hood, Baby Boy.