Boyz N The Hood: Movie Review

Our daily flick of the day is Boyz n the Hood directed and written by the great John Singleton. In 1991, at just 23 years old, John Singleton made his explosively powerful debut with Boyz N the Hood. A film for which he deserved and largely got the kind of respect Scorsese earned for Mean Streets. However his Academy Award nomination was not converted into a win and a black director has yet to get the Oscar. This film has many notable actors such as Ice Cube as Doughboy, Cuba Gooding Jr. as Tre Styles, Morris Chestnut as Ricky Baker, and Laurence Fishburne as Furious Styles. Boyz n the Hood debuts the trials and tribulations of three young African American males growing up in South Central Los Angeles California.

This film gives you a very good example of life on the West coast of the United States of America and how crime is taking over the streets. The violence presented is chest bumping and teeth grinding. It is crazy how people act on instinct, unable to comprehend how their actions might affect others such as innocent people. Many of the victims affected are the “uncared for newborns crawling into the traffic, the proud mothers forced to make premature funeral arrangements for their fallen sons, the fathers teaching truth to power in an attempt to educate the gang-bangers into seeing the real enemy, or the kids playing catch and happening across a bullet-riddled corpse” (Jenkins). These examples give us a little taste of how life really is. Our innocent kids are dying in the streets before they can experience life and the mothers making funeral arrangements it’s supposed to be the other way around. This film should be considered a wake up call to many Americans that we should change our ways. Director John Singleton did an excellent job adding those examples into the film adding to the reality of living in the hood. “Fishburne’s denunciation of SAT exams as culturally loaded, with the exception of maths. Ice Cube is Tre’s troubled friend Doughboy, with Morris Chestnut as Doughboy’s brother Ricky; Tyra Ferrell is excellent in the role of their mother, who keeps plastic wrapping on her couch cushions to keep them from getting messed up, a personal touch which ultimately assumes tragic significance” (Bradshaw). Fishburne’s speech is very fierce on how “any fool with a dick can make a baby, but only a real man can raise his children” (Brady). Offers a real life example of parenthood this made it relatable to me.

Overall this is a very well thought out movie that demonstrates the real American life of living on the West coast. How violence is taking over the same streets we walk on everyday. All the actors did an excellent job playing their roles to the fullest giving the audience that reality feeling. I am excited to see what will be the next project that John Singleton will introduce the world.