Menace II Society

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
Menace II Society Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 17+

Intense '90s film about oppression has violence, drugs.

R 1993 98 minutes
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Parents say

age 15+

Based on 5 reviews

Kids say

age 15+

Based on 6 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Menace II Society is a bleak, violent, expletive-infused 1993 portrait of the dim prospects for young black men trying to escape the ghetto and to rise above the racism that put them there. The message is that in many ways, the grim outcomes, the high murder rate, and the high incarceration rate for young black men are in some sense predetermined by a social system designed to keep them from succeeding, sadly still relevant today. The world depicted here is almost completely devoid of tenderness, warmth, and caring, with the exception of a few enduring loyalties. Expect situations in which violence is an automatic over-reaction to even small annoyances, where friends pull guns on one another, and guys get shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Key characters are drug dealers. Preparation of illicit drugs is shown. Characters drink alcohol and smoke marijuana and cigarettes. Language includes hundreds of uses of "f--k" and the "N" word as well as "s--t," "p---y," and "d--k." A 5-year-old is handed a gun. Men constantly denigrate each other by calling each other words that negatively refer to women, including "bitch" and "ho." Sex is implied. A man is accused of getting a girl pregnant, which he says is impossible since he wore a condom. A girl who is pregnant is shocked that the father wants no part in helping her. This movie isn't appropriate for kids and could be difficult to watch for many older teens.

Community Reviews

movies1976
movies1976 Adult
January 11, 2023
age 10+
Great movie should let your kids watch for sure!
BlitzGuy20
BlitzGuy20 Adult
November 18, 2022
age 15+

Although strong in its important message, this film has strong elements of violence, drugs and pervasive language

Menace II Society (1993) follows Caine, a young highschool graduate sinking into the deceptive natures of the hood while trying to support the ones he loves while also damaging himself on the way almost unknowingly from carelessness of his actions. Except lots of violence and bloodshed, shocking images, pervasive language and some instances of drug use (sometimes graphic) along with mild sexual themes and dialogue. VIOLENCE: SEVERE In the films controversial opening scene, a cashier is suddenly shot multiple times and killed at the register. The gunshots are heard offscreen and he is shown lying on the ground filled with bullet holes and with blood pooling around him. The other woman in the shop (presumably his spouse) begins screaming uncontrollably when she is grabbed by the assailant and dragged into the back of the store for the security tape when she also is shot numerous times off camera with gun shots heard. The shooter rummages through the dead man’s corpse and leaves. The scene is very shocking and disturbing to watch. A man is suddenly shot multiple times with blood spurts with each shot. The bullet holes rip through the back of the chair and he slumps over, dead. A child watches the entire scene unfold. A man in a car is shot in the head splattering a huge amount of blood all over the car window and hitting the passenger in the shoulder. The passenger gets out of the car soaked in blood when the previously shot man is thrown out of the car. He is shown shaking on the ground with the bullet hole in his head and blood pools shown around him. Meanwhile the passenger lays on the curb soaked in blood. He is carried into a hospital still soaked in even more blood and foaming at the mouth. This is a very bloody scene. The security footage for the gas station robbery (as mentioned from the beginning of the film) is shown. In it we see the man at the register being shot in the head with a spurt of blood. The man who killed him is shown sitting on the couch watching his own doing in enjoyment. A man is shot in the head with a shotgun (the impact is not shown) causing a massive amount of blood to splatter all over a building. The man beside him runs away and is shot multiple times in the back and then even more times in the stomach causing blood holes to rip through his back. After he is on the floor he is shot several other times and left on the ground. A man is suddenly shot in the stomach and killed. Two black men are forced into a cop car and beaten and poked in the back seat with batons and blunt objects before they are thrown on the side of the road, beaten and bloody. A man is punched in the face, thrown to the ground and has his face viscously stomped over and over again. Blood starts to pour out from his mouth as he is stomped again and again. He survives and appears later in the film. A man is brutally pistol whipped in the fave by another man when he sees that he is forcing himself onto a woman. He beats him in the face multiple times. During a drive-by shooting, two men are shot countless times with machine guns. The first targeted is riddled with bullets with blood spraying everywhere and splattering all over the place. The second is shot over and over again with blood spraying out on each hit before he jumps over a child, blood profusely pouring out of his wounds and from his face and mouth, to shield him and he is shot countless times again, tearing apart his back into bloody bullet holes. The aftermath of the scene is shown as a blood soaked mess. The scene is shocking and bloody. LANGUAGE: SEVERE 300 uses of “f*ck”, around 150 uses of “sh*t” and 200+ uses of “n*gga”, uses of “b*tch”, “f*ggot”, “p*ssy”, “c*ck” and other language. The language in this film is strong and absolutely pervasive. Every other word in a normal conversation in this film is a swear word, and multiple sentences without one is uncommon. The film has loads of profanity. SEXUAL CONTENT: MILD References to having sex and other sexual banter between friends and characters, two characters make out and undress on top of each other running each other’s bodies during what is an implied sexual scene, a man offers oral sex to another man in return for drugs which he is shot for. A man is told that he got a girl pregnant during a sexual encounter which he denies by saying he put the condom on extra tight. DRUG CONTENT: SEVERE At the very beginning of the film, graphic use of heroin is shown when a woman is injected with the needle and acts erratically. Men smoke marijuana from joints constantly throughout the film casually passing it around to one another. A man is shown cooking and preparing crack in explicit detail. All of the main characters followed throughout have sold drugs or actively sell drugs throughout the film. Lots of drinking, smoking and overall drug content throughout. OVERALL: MATURE 15+

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

MENACE II SOCIETY opens as two angry black boys, O-Dog (Larenz Tate) and Caine (Tyrin Turner), verbally abuse liquor store owners as they browse for beer. History clearly colors the encounter: The owners have probably been robbed before and the youths have probably been treated like potential criminals before. They bridle when one owner watches that they don't shoplift. Spewing expletives, the boys pay and start to leave but one last comment ticks off O-Dog and he murders both owners in a rage, grabs the video recording of the crime, steals the cash, kicks one of them for good measure, and runs out as Caine watches. Caine's narration then explains that his own parents were less than ideal: a heroin addict mother and a murderous drug-dealing father (a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson) who taught him nothing more than how to process street drugs when he was a kid. Grandparents warn Caine to change his ways. A woman encourages him to leave town with her and start anew. A Muslim friend preaches peace, and a friend's dad suggests there's a better way, but Caine is surrounded by peers who have chosen a path of anger and violence, and he decides to follow them instead of his better instincts.

Is It Any Good?

This is a well-made, extremely disturbing film. It examines the urban American dystopia created by systemic racism, systematic economic oppression, the drug trade, and the resulting culture of nihilism and violence that permeated lower-income black neighborhoods. The violence of that time sprung up as police unfairly targeted (and continue to target) black youth, but the movie suggests that violence is hard to control. When our first instinct is to settle conflicts with enemies using fists and guns, we are likely to resort to those same strategies with friends, too. Soon tenderness and empathy disappear, hinting that humanity is sure to follow. Menace II Society is clear that social unfairness against blacks has long been the initiating problem, but it's unflinching in its conviction that we always have choices about how to fight inequality.

Minor weaknesses include when directors Allen and Albert Hughes signal a bit too predictably what is to come, as when a Jaws-like soundtrack precedes a massacre, and surely the future for a character saddled with the unfortunate name "Caine" isn't going to be too bright. Nevertheless, the filmmakers have created a masterful step-by-step primer on what not to do and how not to be that still rings with truth.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the way that few people try to steer Caine toward decency in Menace II Society. Why do you think peer pressure seems more important than doing the right thing for Caine?

  • How does making bad choices early in life ruin a person's chances of making good ones later? What are some examples in the movie?

  • Do you think this '90s movie is still relevant today? Why or why not?

Movie Details

Our Editors Recommend

For kids who love African American stories

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