Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

realityinmind Whoever said this movie is 7 stars and the best black gangster movie ever.... smh no. The acting is horrible. And I know that it came out in the 90s but that is no excuse. The worst part of it all is the re-used soundbytes. Such as when the shootout occurs at the market, you can hear the actors saying many different expletives but they are the same recording used over and over. Its horrible. Basically what happened is that the directors were lazy and had the actors record a phrase in the studio, and then they used it in many different places throughout the movie. While the phrase "m----r f----r" is said 39 times in the movie, it is actually only recorded 18 times. That means that 21 times that the phrase is said the directors told the engineers to just use the phrase from another part of the movie. HORRIBLE!The story has no meaning. None of the characters learn anything, no moral is expressed. its not like in Boyz n the Hood when the characters are constantly facing decisions that inevitably lead to a lesson to be learned in ethics. In Menace II Society the lesson is "if you kill a bunch of people and then move away, then you will be fine in life. But if you don't hurry up and leave in time then you will be killed." Or maybe "if you get a girl pregnant then you can just leave that girl and move away to a new city and everything will be fine, but if you don't then you will die." This is ridiculous.This is the first movie directed by the Hughes Brothers, and it was over-hyped because of a bunch of other similar (and better) movies that came out around the same time. Notice these guys only made about 10 movies in life, and barely any of them are better than 5 stars. Sorry, it is what it is.

Patrick Hester I went into this movie with high hopes, but once I was done, I was surprised at just how flawed it was. I don't regret watching the film- but it had too many problems for me to ignore. I'll start with minor things. Some of the editing (cuts, sound, etc.) is not great. Such as a slow motion scene with sound that doesn't match up with the motion, or a cut that goes to the character smiling to a character frowning in the next. Although not a huge issue, it's a bother and too obvious to ignore. It also had some things not done poorly, but not exactly done well either. It was shot decently, but nothing special. Although it won a Best Cinematography award, don't expect a beautiful film. It's not bad, just not great. It does what it's supposed to, and that's all. But on a positive note, (if you watch the unrated cut) this movie's violence doesn't hold back. It's presented how it should be- bloody and up close. It doesn't cut away from and gruesome shot, because it wants you to see it. The violence is done well, and I'm glad it doesn't restrain itself. The movie gets it's setting right. What everyone wears, what everyone says, what music they listen to... all feels from the era of which it takes place. The soundtrack does do a good job of making you feel like you're in the time and place the film takes place in, but it could've used a track or two besides the hip-hop and R&B tracks. So many films like this one like to only use these kinds of songs, and some scenes would've been better with a different track. Such as a brief sex scene later in the film (which comes out of nowhere, I might add) that is very cheesy, and the cliché song only makes it worse. Although the writing is not terrific, the dialogue, in terms of the way they talk, is. They speak like these characters actually would have, and it doesn't feel overdone. They talk like real friends would, and that makes the whole experience more enjoyable, because you feel as if you are watching actual friends. This leads to a big flaw in the film- the acting. To say the least, it fell short. No performance in this whole film stands out as great. The only performance that stands out at all is Jada Pinkett Smith's, which is not great, but good- and better than most in the film, if not all. Much of the delivery feels lazy, and a most characters are just unconvincing. Caine's narration, for instance, was a little hard to listen to. Compared to the rest of his character's dialogue, it was confusing to hear both from the same actor, with a huge gap in performance quality. He's not the only one, either. It's hard to tell who exactly is at fault here- the actors or the Hughes brothers- but overall, the acting felt weak, and took away from the movie quite a bit. Once I finished Menace 2 Society, I immediately realized it's biggest issues. We are introduced to many characters that are presented as important, but it doesn't take it's time to let us actually spend time with these characters, until they almost feel like extras with lines. Although it focused on a select few characters, they too still feel underdeveloped. From O-Dog, to Caine's grandparents. This movie moves too fast for you to care about the characters and in turn, become invested in their lives. From the beginning scene when Cain is a kid that seems to get cut off out of nowhere, to the ending that feels too rushed to feel any emotion for- It made the whole experience a lot less enjoyable than it would've been. Even the main focus itself seems inconsistent and confused. This movie moves all over the place, and by the end, the impact of the last few moments is severely reduced, because it never lets us get to know Cain, and everyone in his life, as well as we should.

santiagocosme Black kids in their neighborhood, having absolutely no purpose in life except for hanging out and getting in all sorts of trouble. The movie isn't necessarily bad even though it feels a little cliché. But you don't get too many surprises. Shootings to starts proceedings, more deaths and fights in the middle, and as you can imagine, a few killings at the end. Menace to society doesn't manage to be a great movie because it does not bring anything in addition to flicks likes boys in the hood, or movies of the sort. It is interesting that I saw "Menace to Society" a few days before "Notorious". It certainly helped to build things up and to feel more connected to the theme of the movie: the lives of teenagers that suffer the social inequalities of the country they live in. But apart from the good intention of the director, the movie fails to be anything memorable.

Nicole C The film starts off with the murders at a convenience story, and introduces the voice-over narration of the story. I find that this voice-over does wonders at making the audience sympathize with Caine's character. He was born into this society, and therefore is not to blame for his actions and choices. Though his character is not as unpredictably violent like O-Dog, and is somewhat mild. He doesn't carry a gun, and his demeanour isn't that menacing. The voice-over helps to gain some insight into his thoughts and is thus more humanized.Tyrin Turner does a great job portraying his character. As a young boy on the edge of adulthood and just out of high school, Caine has no direction in life, and even has trouble answering whether he cares if he lives or dies. The many close-ups show his confusion at times and at others, his indifference to violence, implying his slow immersion into becoming like O-Dog. O-Dog is represented as a bit of a psychopath with no remorse or conscience for life. It takes little to set him off and Tate does a fantastic job of portraying this terrifying character.This film is well made and the directing shows it. The Hughes Brothers perfectly place juxtapositions of scenes together for maximum impact. The flashback comes in the beginning and establishes Caine's back story while creating sympathy for him. The composition of shots too are done nicely, and complements the way the characters tend to travel in groups.There is a lot of violence in this though, and it serves to show a realistic representation but can be very brutal. As mentioned before, it takes very little to upset O-Dog and turn him loose. The swearing is also very apparent and not one sentence goes by without them. Sometimes whole conversations go by with just cursing.Overall a very powerful representation of ghetto society, where importance is on staying together and protecting one's own. Masculinity is also obviously a very big issue as they constantly try to assert themselves through aggression and cursing. Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com