Review of Boyz n the Hood (1991) by Alex A — 01 Jan 2017

Boyz n the Hood's depiction of the dog-eat-dog nature of inner city ghettos is pretty much spot on. Not to mention, Ice Cube who was famous primarily for being in NWA, gives an impressively believable performance, showing that he can be a great musician and a fine actor as well. Almost everyone performs good to great here though.

One sequence in particular that is truly hard hitting, is the death of Ricky. The composition of this sequence is nothing short of impressive, with how the sound fades out, aside from the children playing in the background, reflecting the audiences realization of the sudden truth: Ricky has met his demise. There's also the performances in this part, they're strong throughout the film, but here in particular it's as if they weren't acting; their conviction of shock, grief and sadness at Ricky's death comes across as nothing short of genuine and natural. Oh yeah, the somber soundtrack adds another layer to this scene. Not to mention the last thing Doughboy did with Ricky before this scene was beat him up. All these combined should develop at least a lump in your throat.

It's easy to see why Boyz N the Hood is as influential as it is, and why it spawned a plethora of blaxploitation hood dramas in the 90's onward post its release. John Singleton, like Quentin Tarantino with Reservoir Dogs, did an impressive job and showed much promising cinematic skill with this debut.