Tyrin Turner

Caine is involved in the violence around him, but Tyrin Turner never lets that become all we notice about the young man. In Menace II Society (1993), he makes the possibility of a different life credible without asking us to excuse the one Caine is living. We worried about Caine because Turner kept his better instincts visible even when there was little comfort in his behaviour. That is a strong performance to build a crime drama around, and a reason to stay with this uneven one.

The film was his breakthrough, following early work including Deep Cover (1992). Supporting roles in Panther (1995) and Belly (1998) followed, but the subsequent decades brought fewer prominent leads. Later credits include Fatale (2020). It is a career we would approach through that early central performance, rather than assume every later appearance offers an equally good opportunity to see his strengths.

Directors Albert and Allen Hughes have a useful contrast in Turner and Larenz Tate, whose Kevin ‘O-Dog’ brings a harder, more volatile energy. Tate makes it difficult to relax whenever he is present. Turner does not need to match him for volatility to hold our interest, because he gives us reason to wonder what else Caine might become. Together they make the danger of this company credible. Turner also allows us time to notice Caine's capacity for something better, which the film's fast pace can obscure.

The writing is less dependable. Its episodic storytelling becomes repetitive, and at times it seems to have decided everything about the young men before the actors have finished giving us reasons to remain concerned. Turner cannot prevent that, though his performance makes the bleakness harder to shrug off. Our recommendation rests in large part on how much he gives us to care about when the script is repeating itself. See Menace II Society for him, but choose an evening when a bleak crime drama will be welcome.