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Menace II Society

Menace II Society (pronounced Menace to Society) is a 1993 American teen drama film directed by the Hughes Brothers in their directorial debut. Set in the Watts and Crenshaw neighborhoods of Los Angeles, the film follows the life of Caine Lawson (Tyrin Turner) and his close friends. It gained notoriety for its scenes of violence, profanity, and drug-related content, and also received critical acclaim for the performances of Turner, Jada Pinkett (in her film debut), and Larenz Tate, the direction, and its realistic portrayal of urban violence and powerful underlying messages.

Plot

Kaydee "Caine" Lawson and his best friend Kevin "O-Dog" Anderson enter a liquor store to buy some malt liquor, where a Korean cashier and his wife suspiciously rush them to buy their drinks and leave. As they walk out, the cashier provokingly tells O-Dog "I feel sorry for your mother," leading to deadly consequences for the cashier and his wife as O-Dog kills them both. O-Dog then confiscates the surveillance tape, robs the cashier's wallet and the cash register, and flees with Caine. Caine recounts that his father Tat, a drug dealer, was killed in an unsuccessful drug deal when Caine was 10, and his heroin-addicted mother Karen died of an overdose soon afterwards. This led to his maternal grandparents raising him in the crime-ridden Jordan Downs housing projects.

Following several years of struggling in class, Caine, himself a low-level drug dealer, finally completes high school. On graduation night, Caine and his cousin Harold attend a party, where O-Dog flaunts the surveillance tape to a group of their closest friends, much to Caine's dismay. Later, the cousins are carjacked en route from the party, with Caine suffering a shoulder wound and Harold being murdered. After learning the carjackers' whereabouts, Caine, O-Dog, and their friend A-Wax, an OG, locate and execute them, avenging Harold's death.

Sometime later, Caine visits Ronnie, the girlfriend of his childhood mentor and Tat's business partner Pernell, who is serving life in prison. He bonds with Ronnie’s young son, Anthony, and ensures she has sufficient finances. That night, tasked by their colleague Chauncey, Caine and O-Dog attempt car theft but are arrested. As he is still underage, O-Dog is released with a warning, but Caine is detained as his fingerprints match those on a beer bottle he dropped during the liquor store murders. During an interrogation, a detective tries tricking Caine by changing the questions multiple times, but Caine is soon released due to insufficient evidence. Caine's friends Stacy, a teenage father, and Sharif, a devout Muslim, attempt to convince him to accompany them to Kansas, and both his religious grandfather and Sharif's father, a teacher at a local high school, warn him about potential death or imprisonment unless he changes his ways. Caine, nevertheless, ignores all advice.

Influenced by his late parents’ lifestyle of drugs and crime, Caine purchases and begins cooking a large quantity of crack cocaine, soon becoming a hustler. He also encounters and eventually has sexual intercourse with a local girl named Ilena. One night, he and Sharif are stopped and assaulted by cops, who then dump them in a Hispanic neighborhood. However, the sympathetic Hispanic gang members surprisingly take them to a hospital rather than further assault them as the police anticipated. During his hospitalization, Ronnie invites him to accompany her to her new secretarial job in Atlanta. Initially hesitant, he ultimately agrees. At a party, Caine rescues Ronnie from Chauncey's drunken sexual advances and starts pistol-whipping him, prompting Stacy and Sharif to restrain him. Chauncey retaliates by sending his copy of the surveillance tape to the police, initially unbeknownst to Caine and O-Dog. Ilena phones Caine about her pregnancy, but he denies paternity and rejects her.

Ronnie and Caine visit Pernell in prison, where Caine is gripped by the sight of his incarcerated mentor. Hoping Caine can more positively influence Anthony, Pernell encourages him to relocate to Atlanta. Afterwards, Caine returns home from visiting Pernell when Ilena's cousin confronts Caine outside his house about Ilena and her pregnancy. An exchange of words ensues, causing Caine to brutally stomp on Ilena's cousin, attracting the attention of Caine's neighbors. Caine's grandfather soon comes outside to stop Caine and bring him inside, then firmly tells Caine he no longer wants him in their house and to be out by the evening. Caine then pleas to his grandparents to stay until he leaves for Atlanta, but, because of his trouble-prone nature, they reject his plea and stand firm to kick Caine out. Learning from their friend Doc that Chauncey betrayed them, Caine and O-Dog, now wanted for the liquor store murders, seek refuge at Ronnie's and other friends' houses. O-Dog vows revenge on Chauncey while Ilena's cousin gathers his friends to seek revenge on Caine.

As Caine and Ronnie are preparing to depart, Ilena's cousin and his friends drive by Ronnie's house and engage in a drive-by shootout. Sharif is instantly killed, while Caine is fatally wounded while attempting to shield Anthony. After the shootout, Stacy and Ronnie emerge from the house, respectively tending to Caine and Anthony. As Caine's life flashes before him, he recalls his grandfather asking him if he cares about being alive, and he realizes in his dying moment that he does.

Cast

Tyrin Turner as Kaydee "Caine" Lawson
- Brandon Hammond as five-year-old Caine
Jada Pinkett as Ronnie
Larenz Tate as Kevin "O-Dog" Anderson
MC Eiht as A-Wax
Glenn Plummer as James "Pernell" Richards
Clifton Powell as Chauncey
Arnold Johnson as Thomas Lawson
Pooh-Man as Doc
Julian Roy Doster as Anthony
Too Short as Lew-Loc
Khandi Alexander as Karen Lawson
Vonte Sweet as Sharif Butler
Bill Duke as Detective
Samuel L. Jackson as Tat Lawson
Charles S. Dutton as Mr. Butler
Saafir as Harold Lawson
Ryan Williams as Stacy
Reginald Ballard as Clyde

Production

Originally, rapper MC Ren was set to play A-Wax, but later turned down the role when he joined the Nation of Islam in late 1992. MC Eiht replaced MC Ren's role as A-Wax. Rappers Spice 1 and Tupac Shakur were initially set to play Caine and Sharif respectively, but they were later fired, with director Allen Hughes stating that Shakur was causing trouble on the set. Shakur was angry for not being told why Sharif would turn Muslim. When Shakur was cast in the role of Sharif who, as described in the film was "an ex-knucklehead turned Muslim", he did not agree with how the character was written. While many of his rap music contemporaries were portraying roles similar to their gangsta rap personas, Sharif would have required Shakur to portray the character as a stoic & pious Muslim. According to MC Eiht, who played A-Wax in the film:

My take on it was, everytime we got ready to rehearse, he had an opinion about his character…He wanted them to write in the script WHY he turned Muslim...Show me why I turned Muslim and they wouldn't do it and that's what angered him...You're not just going to give people that ideal that Tupac is just this yeah you know, "preach my brother", fuck that!

Six months after the firing, Shakur assaulted Hughes, resulting in Shakur being found guilty of assault and battery. Nonetheless, after Tupac's death, Allen Hughes praised the actor, stating "If 'Pac had been in the movie he would've outshined everyone."

Reception

Menace II Society received generally positive reviews from critics. The film has an 85% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The consensus reads, "Told with grit and verve by the Hughes brothers in their feature debut, Menace II Society is a gangland epic that breathes with authenticity while steeped in style." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum stated, "This is a powerful, convincing, and terrifying look at teenage crime in contemporary Watts." Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave it a positive review, stating, "Menace II Society is bleak, brilliant, and unsparing."

Emanuel Levy gave the film an A, saying it is "The most stunning feature debut in the new African American cinema, even more so than Boyz n the Hood to which the coming of age feature bears thematic resemblance." The film was placed on both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's 10 best films of 1993 lists, with Ebert praising "the way the filmmakers tell Caine's story without making him seem either the hero or victim".

However, the film has also received some negative reviews. Geoff Andrew of Time Out stated, "Regrettably, the Hughes Brothers' first feature is a compendium of clichés." Stephen Holden of The New York Times stated, "If Menace II Society is terrific on ambiance, it is considerably less successful in revealing character." At the 1994 MTV Movie Awards, the film was awarded Best Movie, beating out the likes of Philadelphia, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. At the Independent Spirit Award, The film had nominated an for Best First Feature, but lost to El Mariachi (the first installment in the Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy).

The film grossed $27.9 million in the United States and Canada but only $1.6 million internationally for a worldwide total of $29.5 million.

Awards and Nomination

1993 Independent Spirit Awards

Best First Feature (nominated)
Best Cinematography (won) – Rinzler
Best Male Lead (nominated) – Turner

1994 MTV Movie Award

Best Movie (won)

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on May 26, 1993, by Jive Records. It peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Home media

The director's cut of Menace II Society was released on LaserDisc in January 1994 via The Criterion Collection.

Menace II Society was released on DVD in 1997 by New Line Home Video. The director's cut was released on DVD in 2009. This film was also included in "double feature" and "4 Film Favorites" DVD packages in the 2010s. There is one "double feature" package in DVD Region 1 that includes Juice (released in 2013), and another that includes New Jack City (released in 2016), in addition to Menace II Society. The "4 Film Favorites" DVD package, released in 2013 in Region 1, includes ATL, New Jack City, and Set It Off, in addition to Menace II Society.

In August 2021, Criterion announced that Menace II Society, alongside 5 other films, would be released as a part of its first 4K Ultra HD releases. Criterion indicated each title will be available in a 4K UHD+Blu-ray combo pack including a 4K UHD disc of the feature film as well as the film and special features on the companion Blu-ray. The titles were released in November 2021.

Legacy

In 2013, rapper and record producer Kanye West cited Menace II Society as one of his "most-watched" favorite films on an episode of the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.