User Reviews

Juice is an urban drama set in early 90's New York City. It is the story of four friends who each look to gain respect in the neighborhood one way or another. Q(Epps), Raheem (Kain), Steel (Jermaine ...), and Bishop (The Late? Tupac)have good chemistry as the group of friends looking to earn some props around the way. The standout performances were from Tupac and Epps. There are many cameos by famous hip-hop celebrities in the film. The story is good and there are many memorable lines for those who enjoy this genre.

The cinematography by Dixon gives you the feel of Harlem during that era. This will go down as a classic hip-hop film with a great soundtrack. All-in-all this film is a must have if you are a fan of the genre, and a decent pick-up if you are not particularly fond of these types of films.

Peace,

Buggieblade

Juice is a film about 4 friends growing up in Harlem, it tells the story of how far you will go to get respect and how possessive the need to be respected can be.

I enjoyed this movie, a good solid hood film. The acting is superb, especially from Tupac and Epps. Really strong leading performances. The transformation of Bishop from the start to the end is played out perfectly by Tupac.

The movie has a great urban old school feel with a belting hip hop sound track. It's funny, tense, emotional and gritty. Watch this if you are into this type of genre, even if your not, its definitely worth a watch.

This is one of the few, probably the only film in the urban youth genre, a la 'Boyz in the Hood' and 'Menace 2 Society' that I can truly appreciate. This film is as gritty and true to the life as the other films mentioned, but the story and acting in this film rises it above the rest. Tupac Shakur was excellent in his role as Bishop....he came through with a very intense and harrowing performance. If you need any convincing as to his talent, this film will show that. This was arguably Omar Epps' best performance, he was VERY convincing as 'Q'. Where a movie like 'Menace 2 Society' was just a showcase of the gang life, 'Juice' mixes that with an interesting and true-to-life story. It shows the struggle of black youth in a whole new light; I can't help but feel for Q and his friends because that is something that could happen to anyone. A classic for fans of hip-hop culture.

*** 1/2 out of **** stars.

Top performances from Epps and Shakur make this film watchable, the story a fairly mundane one of street youth gangs drifting into crime in search of kicks, streetcred and "juice" (or power). Shakur is the nutter who leads the way on a downward spiral, eager to get involved in any crazy venture and leading his more cautious friends down with him, Epps the good kid hoping to escape the ghetto life through his DJing skills. Uniformly good acting especially from the two leads, cameos from Queen Latifah and Samuel L. Jackson, tense atmosphere and a funny, slang-heavy script all act in its favour, but a lack of originality and a rather mediocre ending bring it down a notch or two. Worth a look if it's your scene though.

Four teen friends grow up in a tough Harlem neighborhood. They skip school, hang out, steal music records for Q, and get harassed by the police and Radames' gang. Bishop (Tupac Shakur) has a chip on his shoulder and a drug addicted father. Q (Omar Epps) is an aspiring DJ. Steel is the chubby sidekick. Raheem has a baby and an angry baby mama. Bishop is angry for always running and losing a friend. He pushes the other three especially Q to rob a bodega. Bishop ends up killing the owner. In the aftermath, the boys argue and Bishop kills Raheem.

Tupac shows his acting chops and some real power with potential. Omar Epps shows his presence by providing a stable center for the movie. There are other newcomers but these two are the standouts. This is a small scale epic tragedy of angry young man in a difficult world. Their troubles are almost inevitable.

Juice is a well made drama that focuses on 4 kids who just get tangled up in a bad situation. It is well directed by Ernest Dickerson and it has a lot of style. Good cast. Worth a watch.

This is a hip-hop classic that I could definitely relate to being from NYC, and having been in a click of four friends since grade school. The film has a great pace and rhythm from start to finish, never a dull moment. Tupac displayed the raw talent and anger that resides in most inner city youth who simply want respect. Unfortunately respect came at a price, which the film was precisely able to convey, through strong performances by Tupac, and by Omar Epps, as the aspiring DJ, in their first featured roles. Samuel L. Jackson has a noticeable role as a pool hall owner, and young Queen Latifah does her thing as the Ruffhouse MC. Ernest Dickerson does an excellent job with capturing the energy of Harlem in an honest way, not dressed as a stereo-typical slum or focused on the historic 125th street, but neutral to lay the groundwork for the true challenges that living in Harlem has to offer these four young men. A classic!!

This picture is a disturbing but gripping urban thriller that details the lives of four youngsters who drift aimlessly day by day in search of manhood and self-respect. The film offers a realistic slice of street life in a rough neighborhood where families struggle to keep young teens in school and out of trouble. Peer pressure, petty crime and violence mark the lives of the principals and the lure of a gun and its power result in a showdown between the reluctant Omar Epps and the psychotic Tupac Shakur. The young men are on a macho trip throughout the story, squaring off with rival gangs, the police, authority figures and each other. The movie doesn't dwell on the scourge of drug use and pushers but instead essays the coming of age of black youths in an urban war zone and the many pitfalls they encounter as they approach adulthood. Samuel L. Jackson and Queen Latifah are great in supporting roles and the movie has a nifty hip-hop soundtrack that adds pace to a solid uptown crime drama.

Wow, the memories. This is one of my favorite hip hop flicks. I'm also a Tupac fan and I can honestly say when I first saw this movie.. I hated Tupac because he made the "bishop" character so real... A little too real.. Some say Pac's problems started after he made this film...That he was living out the character... Looking back on it now as I'm older I think the character helped him release some of the darkness in his past. I miss Tupac.. When I look at these watered down rappers ... i.e. 50 Cent.. and how he's still around.. It tells me people are attempted to fill the Pac void.. There will NEVER be another Pac.. Please believe it.. Anyway...I watched the move again recently and it's great the music and the vibe and movement of the film is gritty and honest. It really shows how small situations in the hood can become a big problems.. Pac was excellent and raw. Omar Epps was excellent as well.. I love the movie...It never gets old.

LS MahoganyGirl.com

I caught this movie late at night while channel surfing and was immediately enthralled. Omar Epps is absolutely fantastic in this movie and his on-screen presence is worth at least viewing this movie once. Shakur was a bit, shall we say, OVERLY dramatic, but not to the point of getting annoying or looking at this as a cheesy "B" movie.

The storyline isn't a bad one and serves to entertain as well as teach. It actually succeeds in doing both. Granted, the movie is a bit predictable, but thankfully this doesn't ruin the experience entirely.

Overall, I give the movie 8 stars. The only real drawbacks being its somewhat predictability and Shakur's tendency to overact.

Juice is a classic film about four friends and the chocies they make and the consquences. The cast all give memorable performances in particular Tupac Shakur as Bishop. The film also features a young Omar Epps. The soundtrack is also one of the best soundtracks ever made for a hip hop film. I love this movie.

When this came out I was a hip hop submerged teenager and I thought this was the greatest movie of all time, now as a old fogey approaching 40 this movie brings back great memories but its pretty rubbish.

Tupac shows his crazy side and to be fair he did a decent job of showing the tormented evil within.

The soundtrack still stands up, the Bass in the Eric B and Rakim track still gives me goosebumps.

All in all I think old sod's like me that grew up in the golden era of hop hop will use this to reminisce, and young kids obsessed with lil wayne, Tyga and whatever rubbish passes as hip hop today will think its daft.

Worth a watch, just.

It's a pity ace cinematographer Ernest Dickerson didn't take the same job for his own directing debut, which could have used a little razzle-dazzle visual camouflage to hide the clichés. The film presents a narrow, familiar view of inner city black culture: the language, the music, and the same old conflict between the struggle for respect and the impulse toward crime. Nothing new is added to an already overworked formula, and the screenplay offers no justification for hotheaded teen troublemaker Tupac Shakur's sudden transformation into a trigger-happy psychopath, following a liquor store hold-up gone sour. The New York City settings are gritty and authentic, but the film amounts to little more than a soundtrack album in search of a plot. Beware the portentous freeze-frame ending, which these days is a convenient way to avoid any sticky unanswered questions.

Story of four friends growing up in the ghetto, with one going "nuts" on the others. Really good performances by Epps and Shakur, and Hopkins gives great comic relief at times. Eerie seeing Bishop gradually turning more and more evil and bloodthirsty. A lot of action and violence here, but hey, it's only entertainment, right?

I hunted this movie down after seeing the commercial promo on Detroit Television, being in Canada, it was hard to find a movie theatre that was running the film. I was in luck, one cinema was running the film for a week. I was lucky and watched it on the big screen.

This movie is kind of a signpost of the whole hip hop culture and is a reflection of the good and bad sides, summation in the plot. Even what happens to Tupac's character, is a mirror to what was to come with him, but in a mixed up way. Bishop was nowhere near as spiritually centred as Tupac.

There are some awesome footage in the movie that so encapsulates 1991 hip hop culture, that positive uplifting vibe that seemed to dissipate within a matter of months into 1992. The whole cast is perfect for the characters. It's not an overly complex theme or movie, but it's full of neat little dialogues, good acting, some pretty decent cinematography and fun aspects. Q's dedication to the DJ art-form is pretty good too. I'm a DJ and could relate to a lot of what he was going through, and even the DJ competition was pretty close to reality, but some of the audio overdubs do not match up with the action. That's probably my only negative, and most of my friends never noticed those glitches, because they don't spin.

A great movie to give a chance if you come across it. Some dark themes, and it makes a balanced picture. A classic of urban culture of the 90's.

It's pretty obvious Omar Epps and Tupac are awesome actors. If you don't get it from this movie, watch some of their other work and you'll get it. This movie's script was kind've crap and unbelievable. We're supposed to believe that before the movie Bishop was down and then all of a sudden at the beginning he turns into some cold, calculating guy willing to murder his friends? Man, please. But Tupac had a lot to say, but just didn't have it figured out; he was a little confused. And he got killed before he got a chance to raise up out. But I think Eminem has some of the same emotional complexity and while he has the same death-wish kind've attitude, the rap game isn't as dangerous as it once was. I expect we'll see Eminem grabbing a lot of the roles that Pac would've played.

I hate rap, hip/hop, pop, techno, dubstep...but Juice is set during the days when rap was taking off and there was actually some technique used and talent behind it. So this is one of the few cases where I did not mind there being rap music. 2Pac is one of the few rappers I like and he sets the screen ablaze. Juice follows four teenagers from Harlem: Q, Bishop, Raheem and Steel (Epps, Shakur, Kain, Hopkins) who try to get power and respect they call "juice." Q follows his dreams of becoming a successful scratch-n-mix deejay and deals with his love life, while Bishop tries more violent activities that break his friends and the streets where they live. After a heist gone wrong, Bishop slowly grows into an out of control madman. Epps as Q and 2Pac as Bishop are the main characters that were fantastic. Both are developed and carried out so well, both were Oscar-worthy. Especially 2Pac, whose portrayal of an inner-city psychopath was so original and so convincing, he really deserved an Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor. It is one of the best acting performances I have ever seen. What I really like about this is that it is purely character driven. Those are the best movies to watch and the best things to read. In fact, this is almost Shakespearean-like. I could see making Juice into a Shakespearean play, with enough modifications to make it seem more sophisticated and complex.

4/4

A nice buddy movie that takes a dark turn real fast.

Disclaimer: I grew up listening to Tupac and am a fan. Will do my best to keep my opinion of Tupac separate from this film review.

Juice is a classic growing-up-in-the-hood type movie. There's friendship, drama, and the loss of innocence. Everything you could want.

The Cast is solid. Great camaderie is shown between Q (Omar Epps), Bishop (Tupac), Steel (Jermaine Hopkins), and Raheem (Khalil Kain) to the point of feeling natural. Even pleasant surprise appearances by Samuel L Jackson (Trip) & Queen Latifah (the MC).

And the underlying message resonates. Everyone wants the "Juice" but only those willing to earn it can get it. And how

But most of the good stuff I can say about this movie stops there.

The plotline felt a bit too simplistic and forced. Tupac's (may he Rest in Peace) acting feels a bit forced and breaks suspense of reality. Things move a bit too fast in the second act that feels a bit rushed. And how is one able to fire a gun in a crowded elevator and everyone is able to still party as if nothing is going on?

Great classic movie, but I wouldn't watch twice.

3/5.

"Your momma so dumb, she went to see the movie JUICE, and brought a CUP!"

Yes I currently Live in Riverside and heard the quote of the title a few times in my life time but never had the curiosity of its orgins. The Film is great hood film in my opinion not comparable to boyz in the hood or meance ll society while it does have its dark elements. Tupac does have a great performance in this and I was skeptical kind of like how ice cube acts. He was ok in friday but not in Are we there yet. But tupac perfomace was top notch and Omar Epps makes a great performance in this. This was all the directal debut off Ernest R dickerson but it seems like he was doing a few films before this.

A horribly dated movie. Made in 1992, the clothes, hair and music all cry early 1990s. Contains a very simplistic plot about a murder during a robbery, this is no classic. The only stand out scene is the school locker confrontation between Omar Epps and Tupac Shakur (Shakur showed he could act). Overall, rather bafflingly over-rated by IMDB reviewers and for die hard Tupac Shakur fans only.

Juice is yet another hood film that presents itself honestly and with a good sense of realism. It doesn't capitalize on anything but the reality and the dangers of growing up in a city lead by gun violence and senseless murders. In the mix of it all are four Harlem boys all portrayed effectively by Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Jermaine "Huggy" Hopkins, and Khalil Kain.

The boys call themselves "The Wrecking Crew," and are trying to survive with what they have in a dangerous town. They spend most of their time at an arcade or a record shop when they cut school a little early, most of the time being harassed by the police or a gang in the process. One day, one of the boys named Bishop (Shakur) buys a gun, and convinces the other three members to come along in stickup. They rob the store, and from that moment on things go from bad to worse for the boys.

There is a subplot involving another one of the gang's members nicknamed "Q" (Epps) who is an aspiring DJ, and has a big DJ competition the night of the planned robbery.

Writer and Director Ernest R. Dickerson has worked as the cinematographer on various Spike Lee films, and this marks his very first shot behind the camera. While Juice is passable and well-made, it suffers by comparison with film's made by Lee like Do the Right Thing and School Daze. It also can be compared to Boyz N The Hood, another excellent hood film by John Singleton.

I believe because of Spike Lee films and works of John Singleton is the reason why Juice has slipped through the cracks. It has a following, but because of strong critical acclaim surrounding the other pictures and this one just having mixed reviews is the reason why this isn't remembered as well as the other films.

The moral of Juice is great about a psychological change one person can go through in a matter of time, the message about gun violence, and strong friendships being tested. However - this is taken in a more clichéd manner than any other hood film I've seen. We don't know a whole lot about the characters, and we don't know about they're raised. We don't get the parental backstory which is what Boyz N The Hood was cluttered with.

I'm recommending Juice for its morals, its sense of realism, and its subject matter. However, the delivery is a little askew, and the four boys aren't developed as well as they could be. This is still one more realistic hood film that many should make time to see, but this film only reaches the level of average to decent while all of Singleton's films surpassed the above average mark.

Starring: Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Jermaine "Huggy" Hopkins, Khalil Kain, Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by: Ernest R. Dickerson.