Hard to take and sometimes hard to watch, "Menace II Society" is a very harsh look at gang life in Watts, in the Los Angeles area.
Focusing on a bunch of kids who are aimless and whose lifestyle revolves around crime, drugs and murder, the lead character (and narrator of the film) is Caine (Tyrin Turner), whose life is summed up in the horrifying opening sequence.
He enters a convenience store with his buddy O-Dog (Larenz Tate), where they pick up a couple of beers and head for the counter. The Asian couple who own the store appear worried and nervous and the boys accuse them of racism.
As they are finally leaving, however, the husband makes the mistake of muttering under his breath, "I feel sorry for your mother," which is all it takes to set off O-Dog. He shoots them both, robs the cash register and makes off with the security videotape — which he will later show repeatedly to his friends as they drink and laugh.
Caine, raised by his grandparents after his low-rent gangster father and heroin addict mother die, is the ultimate troubled kid. He seems to have a heart, but you can't hang around violence too long without being affected by it. And eventually, he too will add murder to his list of crimes.
Shocking and very well-directed by 21-year-old twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes, "Menace II Society" is another in the recent spate of films that takes an unflinching look at African-Americans who are killing each other in modern America.
Unlike "Boyz N the Hood" and "Juice," however, this one is so downbeat and depressing there seems to be little hope for anyone who comes out of these neighborhoods.
That ultimately diminished the power for me — if there's no hope, it becomes just a more realistic shoot-'em-up thriller.
But there is some insight here into the mentality that leads these kids down a road they have not chosen for themselves.
"Menace II Society," appropriately rated R for nonstop violence, profanity and drug abuse, as well as some sex and nudity, has its moments. But it is certainly not for all audiences.