It’s hard to shake off the life you’ve grown into, but more so on the streets with a high crime rate. Menace II Society introduced viewers to that life with a sudden shocking opening that perfectly makes clear how fast violence can strike and permanently mark one’s life forever. It’s a familiar plot line, but directors Albert and Allen Hughes take their music video background to depict Caine’s reality with a strong sense of hip-hip style, an honest reckoning of the self-destructive side of the culture, and the tragedy over not being able to accept the out even when it hurts you. Menace II Society is bleak, but it packs the needed power and intensity into its message.