BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Syl This movie was filmed around the time of the Rodney King riots that ripped South Central Los Angeles. Let's face it, the heart and soul of Los Angeles isn't Hollywood. It's the people like in this movie who try to make living, earnestly, honestly, and respectively. Sadly, this film is still realistic to the plight of urban problems. I spent a lot of time in one of the great urban cities of the East Coast and the problems of poverty, the lure of leading drug dealing lives is real and tempting, domestic violence, child abuse, gangs, etc. still exist and will exist much to the attempts of prevention or society ignoring their presence. Anyway, this film is truly about the heart and soul of a city of ten million Angelenos and the father's attempt to save his son from a life of crime, violence, death, and drugs in the city. It's not an easy battle.

lilmiss39581 This is a very good movie and a realistic view of south central at the time. I lived there and this is one of the few movies that showed a realistic view of life. Glenn Plummer should get more props for his acting. Some parts of this movie touched a lot of us on the streets, the acting is great. This movie laid the foundation for other popular hood movies like boyz n da hood and others, but it is much more than a hood movie it takes you through the struggles of life on the streets and how sometimes you can't help the situation that you're in. It tells of a man who had a messed up childhood, and who had to get his life together to save his son from the same hardships that he had growing up without a dad.It ends up being a true love story.. the love between a real father and his son.

Buggieblade SOuth Central was a gripping drama about a former gang member who has to decide between being a daddy and being a gangster. He rolls with the wrong crowd and gets caught up, BAD MOVE! NOt to spoil the film for those who haven't seen it I'll just leave it at that.THe direction was fluid and well executed. S. Anderson brings the viewer into the scene and captures the moment with sheer brilliance. THe only two acting performances even worth mentioning were Glenn Plumber's and Byron Minns's. The supporting performances where sub-par but good writing rescued them from seeming cheezy.I enjoyed South Central. It made my collection and I recommend it for yours.BUggie

Jim-249 Though the film is "serious" and well intentioned, telling a heart-breaking story with a valid message, its impact is considerably weakened by a naïve story-line and a undistinguished screen-play. I hunted around to see if this was "based on a true story", like "The Birdman of Alcatraz", but I found no evidence; that might have excused some of the awkwardness. There are some movingly warm scenes, though I was never groping for a kleenex. It reminded me of one of those Worthy Westerns I watched as a kid, where the bad guy meets a good guy/woman who changes his life: it had too many predictable and not totally credible steps. When, at the end, the hoodlum about to shoot him says, "Prison sure turned you stoopid!", I was inclined to agree. He talked his way out of the jam, but only because the narrative demanded it: his speech would never have convinced me, any more than Eli's words in the prison cell would have made me turn over a new leaf. These key "speeches" lacked any eloquence, and I frequently found myself predicting the dialogue. Nevertheless its best moments, especially the confrontations, are really gripping - until the end, that is, when it's too easy to foresee that no harm will come to anyone and Good will prevail. It's unfashionable and courageous to give such a story a happy ending (cf. "La Haine", where the vicious circle of hate is NOT broken and a bleak future is foreseen), and perhaps its optimism speaks more deeply to audiences in the States.