Product Description

A mismatched young black couple travel from South Central L.A. to Oakland. They find themselves drawn together as they witness their friends fighting and making up, only to be confronted again by the violence they thought they left behind.
Genre: Feature Film Urban Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 5-FEB-2002
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9783 in DVD
• Brand: JACKSON,JANET
• 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: .25 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

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.