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Movies like Menace II Society

Key Features:
Coming-of-age, Urban crime, Gang violence, Social commentary, Survival, Systemic inequality, Cycle of violence, Moral ambiguity, Urban life, Redemption, Friendship, Violence-high, Drug abuse, Tragedy
Tone:
gritty, serious, cynical
Target Audience:
Fans of crime dramas, Viewers interested in social issues, Urban audiences
Emotional Arc:
Hope → Despair

Menace II Society

1993-05-26
Menace II Society Poster - Find Similar Movies

A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.

Genres
Drama, Crime, Thriller
Cast
Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, Glenn Plummer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, June Kyoto Lu, Toshi Toda, Reginald Ballard, Khandi Alexander, Jullian Roy Doster
Crew
Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes, Tyger Williams, Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Rating
7.5(837 votes)
Menace II SocietyMenace II Society
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Boyz n the Hood
7.624

In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...



John Henry
5.259

Ex-gang member John Henry is a quiet man with a violent past. When two immigrant kids on the run from his former South Los Angeles gang leader stumble into his life, John is forced to reconcile with his past in order to try and give them a future.



Havoc
Havoc(2005)
5.3

A wealthy Los Angeles teen and her superficial friends wants to break out of suburbia and experience Southern California's "gangsta" lifestyle. But problems arise when the preppies get in over their heads and provoke the wrath of a violent Latino gang. Suddenly, their role-playing seems a little too real.



Get Rich or Die Tryin'

A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.



Dope
Dope(2015)
7.061

Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.



Baby Boy
Baby Boy(2001)
7.11

The story of Jody, a misguided, 20-year-old African-American who is really just a baby boy finally forced-kicking and screaming to face the commitments of real life. Streetwise and jobless, he has not only fathered two children by two different women-Yvette and Peanut but still lives with his own mother. He can't seem to strike a balance or find direction in his chaotic life.



Havoc
Havoc(2025)
6.396

When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.



Bad Boys
Bad Boys(1983)
7

Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.



Colors
Colors(1988)
6.5

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.



Q
Q(2014)
5.8

When growing up in a community where gang violence is a way of life and Basketball is a way to escape it.



Gully
Gully(2021)
5.3

A slightly dystopian vision of LA, we follow three disaffected teenagers, Jessie, Calvin and Nicky, all victims of extreme childhoods, running supreme hedonistic riot as they try to work out a way in life.



Street Flow 2
6.2

Struggling to overcome cycles of betrayal, revenge and violence, the Traoré brothers continue to fight for a brighter future in a seedy Paris suburb.



Sugar Hill
5.6

In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.



Shank
Shank(2010)
4.9

SHANK delivers a ruthless vision of forthcoming urban life, where guns have been superseded by knives and are fiercely wielded by aimless youths. Amidst the chaos is the Paper Chazers gang, a rare morally conscious group who trade scavenged food for money. After Chazers gang member, Junior, witnesses his brothers murder, he must decide whether to get revenge or stick to the gangs moral code.



American Me
7.4

During his 18 years in Folsom Prison, street-gang leader Santana rules over all the drug-and-murder activities behind bars. Upon his release, Santana goes back to his old neighborhood, intending to lead a peaceful, crime-free life. But his old gang buddies force him back into his old habits.



Black and White
4.613

Rich Bower is an up-and-coming star in the hip-hop world. Everyone wants to be around him, including Raven and her fellow upper-class white high school friends. The growing appeal of black culture among white teens fascinates documentary filmmaker Sam Donager, who sets out to chronicle it with her husband, Terry. But before Bower was a rapper, he was a gangster, and his criminal past comes back to haunt him and all those around him.



1992
1992(2024)
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In 1992, Mercer is desperately trying to rebuild his life and his relationship with his son amidst the turbulent Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict. Across town, another father and son put their own strained relationship to the test as they plot a dangerous heist to steal catalytic converters, which contain valuable platinum from the factory where Mercer works. As tensions rise and chaos erupts, both families reach their boiling points when their worlds collide.



Adulthood
Adulthood(2008)
6.2

After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.



Gridlock'd
6.7

After a friend overdoses, Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their drug habits and attempt to enroll in a government detox program. Their efforts are hampered by seemingly endless red tape, as they are shuffled from one office to another while being chased by drug dealers and the police.



Thumper
Thumper(2017)
5.6

In a town of low-income and fractured families, a group of teens are lured into working for a dangerous drug dealer. A new girl arrives who hides a dangerous secret that will impact everybody and change their lives forever.



Urban Justice
5.07

Seagal plays a man with a dark and violent past, who seeks revenge for the murder of his son.



Bomb City
Bomb City(2017)
7.109

An ongoing feud between punk rockers and a more affluent clique in a small Texas town leads to a hate crime.



SuperFly
SuperFly(2018)
6.703

Career criminal Youngblood Priest wants out of the Atlanta drug scene, but as he ramps up sales, one little slip up threatens to bring the whole operation down before he can make his exit.



Hustle & Flow
7.1

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.



Native Son
5.443

A young black man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever.



The System
7

When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.



Belly
Belly(1998)
6

Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?



Pusher II
Pusher II(2004)
7.191

Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down life, but that is easier said than done.



Street Kings 2: Motor City

Detroit detective Marty Kingston (Liotta) is the leader of an undercover narcotics team, whose members are being systematically murdered one by one. To solve the brutal killings, Kingston joins forces with a cocky, young homicide detective. But neither of them is prepared for the shocking corruption their investigation will uncover — stunning secrets that will set both men on a violent collision course with betrayal and vengeance.



Next Friday
6.5

A streetwise man flees South Central Los Angeles, heading to the suburbs and his lottery-winner uncle and cousin, to avoid a neighborhood thug with a grudge who has just escaped from prison.



Imperial Dreams
6.6

A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.



Clockers
Clockers(1995)
6.7

Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the killer. Detective Rocco Klein doesn’t buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.



Where the Day Takes You

King is a young man, but he's already a veteran of life on the streets of Los Angeles. The de facto leader of a group of teenage runaways, King acts as a mentor to troubled kids such as gay hustler Little J and junkie Greg. When Heather, a beautiful girl from Chicago, starts hanging out with King and his crew, it changes the dynamic of the gang. However, it seems as though nothing will alter their dangerous lifestyle.



Blood Brother
5.7

Blood Brother takes place on he mean streets of a city in decay, where a recently released convict begins to take a murderous revenge against his childhood friends, whom he believes let him take the fall for a crime they collectively committed. As the bodies start piling up, one of the friends, now a cop, will stop at nothing to put and end to the murderous rampage and to right the many wrongs of their tragically violent past.



We Die Young
6.8

Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-year-old brother won't follow the same path. When an Afghanistan war veteran comes into the neighborhood, an opportunity arises.



New Jack City
6.6

A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself.



Waist Deep
6.5

An ex-convict gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.



Empire
Empire(2002)
6

Big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top, Victor soon finds out that he's been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.



Street Kings
6.638

Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.



The Young Americans
5.712

Experienced New York Police Detective John Harris is sent to London to help a local task force investigate a series of gangster killings organized by a new player in town, an American. With the help of a young teen wronged by gangsters, Harris navigates London's seedy, drug-fuelled underworld in order to take down its new criminal empire.



Felon
Felon(2008)
7.1

A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.



Juice
Juice(1992)
7.2

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.



Dirty
Dirty(2005)
5.3

Two gangbangers turned cops try and cover up a scandal within the LAPD.



The Mack
The Mack(1973)
6.4

A recently-released convict becomes the most powerful pimp in Oakland, but tragedy ensues when his activities draw the ire of two corrupt cops and the crime lord he once worked for.



Nickel Boys
6.6

Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.



Jamesy Boy
6.404

Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.



Paid in Full
6.8

Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.



Death Wish II
6.247

Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.



Training Day
7.508

On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.



All Day and a Night
6.218

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.



Above the Rim
7

Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.



Jason's Lyric
6.745

The story of a young man who must confront his own fears about love as well as his relationships with family and friends.



King of New York
6.8

A former drug lord returns from prison determined to wipe out all his competition and distribute the profits of his operations to New York's poor and lower classes in this stylish and ultra violent modern twist on Robin Hood.



El padrino: The Latin Godfather

In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new life as a dealer begins. In a world where a man wants everything, he may end up with nothing.



Bulworth
Bulworth(1998)
6.3

A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.



Gladiator
Gladiator(1992)
7.6

Tommy Riley has moved with his dad to Chicago from a 'nice place'. He keeps to himself, goes to school. However, after a street fight he is noticed and quickly falls into the world of illegal underground boxing - where punches can kill.



Candyman
Candyman(2021)
6.001

A Chicago artist's sanity starts to unravel, unleashing a terrifying wave of violence when he begins to explore the macabre history of the Candyman.



Young and Dangerous
6.481

Five young hoodlums sing karaoke, murder, joke around, get beaten up, win and lose women, and learn the value of blind loyalty.



The American Society of Magical Negroes

A young man, Aren, is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making white people’s lives easier.



Fat City
Fat City(1972)
7

Two men, working as professional boxers, come to blows when their careers each begin to take opposite momentum.



Outlaws
Outlaws(2021)
6.9

Introverted Girona student Nacho meets two delinquents from the city's Chinatown and gets caught up in a summer onslaught of burglaries and hold ups that will change his life.



Kids
Kids(1995)
6.9

A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.



South Central
6.697

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.



Young Guns
6.7

A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.



The Boys Next Door
6.2

Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.



Enforcement
6.341

The exact details of what took place while Talib Ben Hassi was in police custody remain unclear. Police officers Jens and Mike are on routine patrol in Svalegården's ghetto when news of Talib's death comes in over the radio, igniting uncontrollable, pent-up rage in the ghetto's youth, who lust for revenge. Suddenly, the two officers find themselves fair game and must fight tooth and claw to find a way out.



The Purge: Anarchy
6.628

One night per year, the government sanctions a 12-hour period in which citizens can commit any crime they wish -- including murder -- without fear of punishment or imprisonment. Leo, a sergeant who lost his son, plans a vigilante mission of revenge during the mayhem. However, instead of a death-dealing avenger, he becomes the unexpected protector of four innocent strangers who desperately need his help if they are to survive the night.



Nayakan
Nayakan(1987)
7.8

Velu Naicker, who witnesses the brutal murder of his father, kills a corrupt policeman and escapes to Mumbai, only to become a gangster.



Dead Presidents
6.653

On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency!



Shottas
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7.638

A raw urban drama about two friends raised on the dangerous streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Biggs and Wayne take on the "Shotta" way of life to survive. As young boys, they begin a life of crime, eventually moving to the US where they begin a ruthless climb from the bottom. They remain bound to each other by their shottas loyalty as they aggressively take control of the Jamaican underworld.



Killer of Sheep
6.5

An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.



Gangsta
Gangsta(2018)
6.8

Antwerp, Belgium. The lives of four small-time drug dealers spin out of control when they steal a shipment of cocaine, triggering a full out war between an Amsterdam drug lord and a ruthless Colombian cartel.



Angel
Angel(1984)
5.961

Molly Stewart, a teen at the top of her class who survives by working nights as a prostitute on Hollywood Blvd, finds her world beginning to fall apart when a depraved, necrophiliac serial killer begins targeting LA’s streetwalkers.



Fighting
Fighting(2009)
6

Small-town boy Shawn MacArthur has come to New York City with nothing. Barely earning a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets, his luck changes when scam artist Harvey Boarden sees that he has a natural talent for streetfighting. When Harvey offers Shawn help at making the real cash, the two form an uneasy partnership.



Tough Enough
6.788

From the youth directed novel of the same name by Greogor Tressnow comes a film by Detlev Buck that is a realistic portrait of life in the section of Berlin called Neukölln. It’s about power and weakness, delinquents and victims, and the difficulties a 15-year-old faces in a poor and criminal environment.



Breakin'
Breakin'(1984)
6.6

A struggling young dancer joins forces with two breakdancers and together they become a street sensation.



Mad Max
Mad Max(1979)
6.7

In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians while tearing up the streets, the ruthless gang laughs in the face of a police force hell-bent on stopping them.



Boulevard Nights
7.125

Raymond Avila is an ex-gang member trying to build a future. His kid brother Chuco is a sullen low-rider still caught up in the life. Despite their differences, their family bond is strong. But that bond is violently tested when rivals challenge Chuco's gang and ignite a neighborhood war.



Sun and Concrete
6.986

The four friends Lukas, Julius, Gino and Sanchez are trying to survive the everyday life in Neukölln, Berlin between drugs, gangs, rap, violence and boredom. Until they are one day making a serious decision with serious consequences because of a dead certain plan.



Skin
Skin(2019)
6.534

In a small supermarket in a blue collar town, a black man smiles at a 10 year old white boy across the checkout aisle. This innocuous moment sends two gangs into a ruthless war that ends with a shocking backlash.



Man of the West
6.6

Heading east to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his frontier town home, Link Jones is stranded with singer Billie Ellis and gambler Sam Beasley when their train is held up. For shelter, Jones leads them to his nearby former home, where he was brought up an outlaw. Finding the gang still living in the shack, Jones pretends to be ready to return to a life crime.



Tsotsi
Tsotsi(2005)
6.9

A young South African boy from the Johannesburg ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster, leaves home as a child to get away from his helpless parents. Now a teenage thug, Tsotsi finds a baby in the back seat of a car he's just stolen. He decides that it is his responsibility to care for the infant and in the process learns that maybe the criminal life isn’t the best way.



Honey 2
Honey 2(2011)
6.3

After a brush with the law, Maria has returned to her gritty Bronx roots to rebuild her life with nothing but a talent for street dance and a burning ambition to prove herself.



The Principal
6.5

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.



Fear City
Fear City(1984)
5.3

Strippers in Manhattan are being stalked and murdered by a psycho. A hard-nosed police detective and a conflicted ex-boxer-turned-private-eye, hired by the strip club owners, set out to find him before he strikes again.



Street Flow
6.932

Noumouké, from the suburb of Paris, is about to decide which brother's foot steps to follow - the lawyer student Soulaymaan or the gangster Demba.



Chicuarotes
7.8

Cagalera and Moloteco are two teenagers from San Gregorio Atlapulco who are desperate to get out and move up and away from oppressive circumstances. When they hear of an opportunity to buy a spot in the electrician’s union, which could transform their lives, they quickly devolve into the criminal, adult underworld of Mexico City in a bid to buy their freedom.



Underworld U.S.A.
6.9

A bitter young man sets out to get back at the gangsters who murdered his father.



Concrete Cowboy
6

Sent to live with his estranged father for the summer, a rebellious teen finds kinship in a tight-knit Philadelphia community of Black cowboys.



Bullet
Bullet(1996)
6.2

A tough, Jewish ex-con just released from prison crosses a powerful drug dealer and former prison rival in his return to a life of crime.



Mall
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4.696

Malcom's done with his life. Only the noise of Crystal Meth gives him a reason to keep going - everything else it has long regardless. Equipped with a bag full of weapons and self-made bombs, he makes his way to the nearby mall to really stir things up. On his personal war campaign, he not only changes his life radically, but also the fate of other people who are in the wrong place at the same time: a teenager whose favorite pastime is smoking pot in his dreary existence, a housewife, where their best days have been left behind, a greedy businessman whose only desire is to increase his wealth and a depressed pervert.



Akira
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7.9

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.



Outlaw
Outlaw(2007)
5.376

A group of people who feel betrayed by their government and let down by their police force form a modern-day outlaw posse in order to right what they see as the wrongs of society.



Illegal Tender
6

After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers - one Latino family's quest for honor and revenge as the hunted become the hunters.



Anuvahood
Anuvahood(2011)
6.4

Kenneth (who likes to call himself Kay) begins to realise he's just another wannabe bad boy... even less than a loser in fact. After quitting his job at Laimsbury's, Kay vows to become a respected gangster... or cry trying. A pulls-no-punches, coming-of-age story, centering on one directionless hopeless "shotter", who finds his true worth in the face of urban adversity.



Falling Down
7.386

An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.



The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete

Coming of age story about two inner city youths, who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities.



Lowlife
Lowlife(2017)
6.1

The sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong.



Fresh
Fresh(1994)
7.2

Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.

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