Boyz n the Hood (1991) starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Angela Bassett directed by John Singleton Movie Review

Boyz n the Hood (1991)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Morris Chestnut and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Boyz n the Hood (1991)

Getting Deep in the Hood

When his mother receives a call from school to say her Tre (Desi Arnez Hines II, Cuba Gooding Jr.) is in trouble because of his anger again she decides to send him to live with his father, Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne), in the Crenshaw neighbourhood of South Central. Whilst there are problems in Crenshaw Furious is a strong man full of morals and his guidance and demand for respect helps turn Tre into a good man with respect. His friends Doughboy (Ice Cube) and half brother Ricky (Morris Chestnut) do their best but have not had Furious's guiding hands over their lives with Doughboy ending up in side for a stretch. But trouble is never far away for these young men be it gangs, drugs, Aids or having kids.

I am one of those reviewers who believes there are some movies which whilst can be reviewed can't be done justice to through the written word. There are those reviewers who will try to do justice by writing pages and in doing so end up going too far, giving too much detail to the point of making it pointless to watch the movie after reading their essay. That brings me to "Boyz n the Hood" which for me is one of those movies which is so rich in depth that to do it justice would be to write something which would probably take you as long to read as it would to watch the movie and it is one of those movies which you should just watch and experience.

Ice Cube in Boyz n the Hood (1991)

But to give you a slight idea "Boyz n the Hood" basically shows us the difficulty of being a teenage in South Central and we get to see this through 3 different people. We have Tre who has been raised to be a respectful young man by his father but of course has the typical pressures on a teen. There is his friend Doughboy who have done time has little hope of doing anything else but crime and his brother Ricky who already has one child but hopes football will be his way out of the life which Doughboy has ended up in. There are a lot of other characters and a lot of drama from the buzz of helicopters, the regular sound of gunfire and the police harassment being a way of life to standing your ground during drive bys but it makes for a rich drama which as I said to cover it all would take far too long.

Now writer and director John Singleton has delivered a movie which for me is up there with Scorsese, it may not have the camera work of a Scorsese movie but he delivers characters, depth, atmosphere and story. He also got himself a great cast which shines in every aspect from Cuba Gooding Jr. delivering the turmoil of a young man entering manhood and wanting a better way of life to Laurence Fishburne who is strict and fair and a great father figure as he talks to his son about hard work and respect.

What this all boils down to is that "Boyz n the Hood" is a rich movie which despite being over twenty years old is still as impressive as ever. It is still one of those movies which you just need to watch and soak in every second, every word, every character and every moment of drama.


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