"If you want respect you've got to earn it." So quips the levelheaded character of Quincy "Q" Powell from Juice, an urban crime conch that spits the sights and sounds of early 90s NYC on the real. It's in the soundtrack, it's in the red-blooded lingo, and it's in the bold-colored cinematography laced with a little doggedness. New Jack City was The Godfather while Juice was Goodfellas, a little more lowdown, a little more lower class, and small-scale.
The cast was unknown at the time (Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Khalil Kain, Samuel L. Jackson), the director was Spike Lee's cinematographer (Ernest Dickerson), and as far as I know, the film wasn't marketed heavily. Juice, well it came out in a wave of early to mid, post-Cold War decade flicks like Fresh and New Jersey Drive and 1993's Menace II Society. As a thriller it's dense yet ruthless and dangerous, with a citified look that's more commercial than independent. Dickerson creates tension throughout, turning comradeship between four young, misguided hoods into a living, breathing nightmare. "You got the juice now, man". Are you sure about that boss, are you?
Juice, yeah it's lean and mean, with Ernest Dickerson masterfully carrying the final, violent sequence set to Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man" with total aplomb. Yup, Juice is a snapshot and/or slice of "crime doesn't pay" swipe, where some childhood friends knock off a liquor store only to have one of them kill the clerk and some of each other. Minus a rather thin narrative where you know little about these wannabe thugs before bedlam gets pukka, Juice literally unfolds like a sledgehammer, with Shakur's pitiless, psycho Roland Bishop the standout and/or anchor. Solid cast, non-flashy yet tight direction, Tupac emoting like a spitfire hyena, and taut editing make Juice sundry viewing for anyone who likes their gangster pics with a little strife. On this "juice".
Written by Jesse Burleson
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