Juice

How far will you go to get it? Power, respect, street cred are all things associated with "Juice" the 1992 coming of age film directed by Ernest Dickerson. The movie's four main characters Bishop, Q, Raheem, and Steel, are all high school students living in the New York City area, who are tired of being nobody's on the streets and are on the quest for "Juice," the power and respect they thing they need to have to survive in their daily lives. The movie portrays the life of inner-city urban youth, the four main characters are all best friends who rarely go to school and regularly go to the local pool hall or hang out at each other's house when their parents are at work. Each characters performance makes you think that no one else could have pulled off the roles, the casting was perfect, and the performances of Tupac Shakur as Bishop and Omar Epps as Q steal the show. The movie explores the lives of urban youth and how they turn to crime. The turning point in the film is when the four friends decide to rob the local liquor store, but something goes terribly wrong and things take a turn for the worst. All in all "Juice" is an entertaining movie, with great individual performances and a storyline that gives a fresh take on the genre, and has allowed this film to become a cult classic over the years.