Kids in the Hood

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2005)

To sum it up in one word: overrated.
Let's face it, the story isn't anything new (I know most things have been done before, but still). There's no shortage of films depicting the lives of gangsters from their slow steady rise, to that inescapable fall. What's new here is the fact that we're dealing with kids. It certainly is a different take on a familiar plot, but otherwise there are no surprises. For most of the film, it's various gang members shooting each other when they're not busy doing robberies and drugs.
One of the arguments for this film being a classic is that the actors are amateurs and that they are "real". OK, if that's what they want to show - do a documentary about them instead of trying to gloss it up with fancy visuals and editing. The latter has also been praised to great extent. My question is: why? There's nothing here that isn't in every other film these days, and certainly nothing that warrants that extra high rating. It only detracts from the story, making the characters all the less believable.
It seems like the subject matter (i.e. the horrible conditions under which these kids live - and the fact that it's foreign) has influenced viewers into thinking that the film is somehow better than it actually is. It's really nothing more than a typical genre movie. What's best about the film, and not often mentioned, are some very entertaining humorous scenes that you'd not expect to find in a film like this. [4/10]