Re: Movie Review Thread
I saw Boyz In the Hood again last night and it was just as compelling as when I saw it way back when it first came out. It's not flawless - it's sentimental, unsubtle, with dodgy Black Consciousness type rhetoric. But it hits home emotionally with the force of a two-handed hammer.
I don't think I've seen a violent death better represented - the horror, the screaming of love ones, the mess, the waste, the guilt. If that is not how violent death is, it is how it should be - something monstrous and unconscionable.
Laurence Fishburne is great as the role model dad ("Who diss?"), but the emotional heart of the film for me is the doomed character played by IceCube (or is it IceT? I forget). Something about his character just appeals to me as rather noble. As a young fat kid trying to fight the much older bullies. Later, standing arms stretched out like Jesus inviting a would-be driveby killing. He never seems nasty or thuggish, and is often understanding and responsible in his own rough way. When his grief-stricken mother screams blame at him - unjustly - for his brother's death, it is far, far more moving than the equivalent scenes between Faramir and Denethor in ROTK. So he is damned by his own mother and goes out to avenge his brother, quietly understanding the consequences for him and why his friend who is escaping the ghetto should not join him on this path to hell. He may be part of the problem, but to me, he's also part lovable kid and part tragic hero.
5 stars out of 5 from me.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks