Juice would not exist without Tupac. That’s not to say that it would not have been made sometime in the early 90s. It just would not have been remembered.
Even that memory is more about Tupac the deceased rapper than charismatic and talented actor. Here he plays one of four typical urban youths, obsessed with music, computer games, hollerin’ at girls and skipping school.
These young men might blur the lines of legality with some shoplifting and stepping nose to nose to a rival Hispanic gang, but for the most part they are boys being boys and finding their way in life.
Then Bishop (Tupac) decides that they need more ‘juice’, more renown and greater standing in the neighbourhood as being hard. When he arrives holding a gun with a head full of ideas about how to raise their standing, his longtime friends all understandably have mixed emotions, especially from aspiring DJ ‘Q’ who happens to have his big showcase that very night, a night that could make or break his career.
The film starts out as an energetic character study, full of good tunes (the opening credits feature Eric B & Rakim) and hijinks. It quickly turns into a Boyz n the Hood lite effort, as Bishop’s mind state and attitude set him on a crash course with hard earned morals.
This abrupt change is a little disconcerting, especially when there aren’t too many decent character studies featuring young black males that don’t culminate in crime and tragedy. Why you would start mildly innovative and settle for same old I don’t know, what I so know is that the are 27 other young urban crim stories like Juice from the 90s, this settles somewhere in the middle.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. In the pursuit of respect and power, Juice loses just a little of both.
