6/10
Do the Right Thing
26 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Boyz n the Hood" is an American film from 1991, so this one has its 25th anniversary already this year. The film focuses on the life of Tre Styles, early on as a young kid, but later on as an adult. At the same time, we also witness how the people around him get older and that includes friends, family members and of course his girlfriend. All of these take very different paths and that includes Tre as well. The best performance of the film comes probably from Laurence Fishburne, who plays the main character's father. His interactions with his son, but also with his son's mother (Angela Bassett), are core aspects in here. And there are more known names. I am speaking of Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut here especially, two young actors and they play the people in Tre's life that are around his age and that he looks up to and respects as his peers. But are they really worth it? Watch for yourself.

This film runs for slightly over 110 minutes and was written and directed by John Singleton, who was only in his early 20s when he made this film. With his director nomination at the Academy Awards, he made quite an impact, not only because of his age, but also for being the first African American to get in that category. In addition, he also managed a screenplay nod. If you look closely, you will also see Singleton play a mailman during one scene near the end. As a whole, this film works very well. The story seems realistic, the characters are intelligently presented and elaborated on. Yes the ending is a bit extreme with these two shootings, but sadly these things really do happen and the sad thing today is that almost nothing has gotten better in the last 25 years. But let's not talk about race crimes or politics here. This description also fits the level of films with predominantly black actors. There are quite a few every year and there are awards bodies like the Black Reel Awards honoring these, but the quality in these films has gone south considerably. A quality black film like this one here is only released once every 3 or 4 years perhaps, probably not even that often. So go see it! This was a convincing watch and I applaud Singleton for what he did here despite his young age. The Academy Award nominations (especially for director) may have been a bit over the top, but it was definitely a good watch and I recommend checking it out.
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