The 2nd movie of the Awesome Hughes bro's after their smash hit instant Classic MENACE 2 SOCIETY, this movie is truly a masterful piece of Cinema, it's part Urban Drama, part War film & part Heist Thriller all crafted around being a period piece. We get the swinging soulful 1960's explored & the very gritty, bleak & dark 1970's explored through the streets of Brooklyn as we follow our main lead, the excellent baby-faced LARENZE TATE, who blasted his way on to the screen in the hood Classic Menace 2 Society, here he's cast as the lead & gives another excellent performance, he goes to Vietnam & becomes a good soldier & a good man but when he gets back his old neighbourhood is a struggling bleak place, the facts of a black man returning home to nothing is all harsh in it's reality of the time, there's a mean streak of realism throughout the film just like Menace, they fought a war for America that they didn't want to & came back disturbed & with nothing!!!
This is a fantastic character study too as we witness the main group of friends start to fall apart after returning home from Nam such as Chris Tucker & Freddie Rodriguez who both give superb performances as does the whole incredible cast with Keith David (Platoon, They Live) & Terrance Howard (Hustle & Flow, Iron-man) & of Course as mentioned, Chris Tucker (Friday, Jackie Brown) & Freddie Rodriguez (Harsh Times, Planet Terror) & Bokeem Woodbine (Riddick, The Rock) all these make a great ensemble cast & interesting characters.
There's an astonishing rich detail to this movie, you cam feel the Hughes bro's confidence here in every frame, this is an epic movie & a powerful one too. The cinematography is fantastic, the soulful soundtrack is Awesome & the attention to detail of it's time period is stunning, a well crafted story. The Vietnam scenes are brutal, shocking, bloody & funny all the tone they had created with Menace is here. I'm gutted that Leranze Tate didn't become a huge star after his performance here? & after his outstanding & iconic dubet performance as O-Dog in Menace? Hollywood is a strange & corrupted place. I could feel the anger within this movie of how blacks are treated & i can totally understand why these dudes end up doing alot of the bad shi#t they do out of desperation & frustration, it's an interesting look at the urban street life of the almost Apocalyptic 1970's & how broken people try to survive.
A Classic piece of filmmaking
There's an astonishing rich detail to this movie, you cam feel the Hughes bro's confidence here in every frame, this is an epic movie & a powerful one too. The cinematography is fantastic, the soulful soundtrack is Awesome & the attention to detail of it's time period is stunning, a well crafted story. The Vietnam scenes are brutal, shocking, bloody & funny all the tone they had created with Menace is here. I'm gutted that Leranze Tate didn't become a huge star after his performance here? & after his outstanding & iconic dubet performance as O-Dog in Menace? Hollywood is a strange & corrupted place. I could feel the anger within this movie of how blacks are treated & i can totally understand why these dudes end up doing alot of the bad shi#t they do out of desperation & frustration, it's an interesting look at the urban street life of the almost Apocalyptic 1970's & how broken people try to survive.
A Classic piece of filmmaking