Review of Boyz n the Hood (1991) by Peter B — 15 Nov 2009

A lot of good performances but it feels a bit slight for the most part. For a good long while it kind of coasts along with little incident or gripping storyline. The characters are engaging but are just going about there business.

Which after a while leaves you wanting to know where its all headin. To be frank I grew bored and felt a bit like I was watchin a soap opera - an admittedly well acted one. Laurence fishburne is fantastic and gooding jr is great too.

Then the "incident" that happens near the end is what the whole film is building to and to me it is telegraphed too much. If a character goes around sayin how their life is gonna be better all the time then its pretty obvious whats gonna happen.

Its still powerful stuff when it happens though. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and the "heres what happened to em next" was a bad idea and should have been left ambiguous for the viewer to decide / think for themselves.

Good parts but flawed too.