Hurricane Streets (1997)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The life of an inner city teen in Larry Clark's KIDS is portrayed as single minded and pointless, and while it was an eye opening film experience, ultimately its overall value was shock. I was infuriated at the lengths that selfish teens with no since of life's value would go for self gratification, in the only pursuit conceivable to an immature mind. Hurricane Streets shows us an inner city teen that seems to see the bigger picture. Marcus gets by committing minor thefts, storing his money away with future plans in mind. He's smart enough to shy from major crime and isn't overcome by peer pressure. Theres nothing macho in his criminal activity, he's drawn to it out of immediate necessity. Furthermore, Marcus is capable of not merely lust, but love. He's generous rather than selfish. When you see him at his worst, its sympathy you feel, not disgust or shame. Like the teens in KIDS, Marcus grows up too fast in a hostile environment that precipitates this growth. But the choices he makes are smart or at least noble, not stupid and shameless. His life is not pointless, it has meaning.If you want to get a look at the tragic inner city life of teens, you could watch KIDS and be shocked, or you could follow the example Marcus sets in Hurricane Streets and see the bigger picture.I rate it 9/10

This is the first time that I have seen Brendan Sexton III on screen and I was really impressed. The movie does start a little slowly, but it is worth sticking with. It is more like a French movie than an American one something like 'Les Quatre Cents Coups', where the atmosphere is almost more important than the action. The leading actors are a gang of youngsters all of whom are very good in their roles. The hero reminds me of River Phoenix in 'Running on Empty.' I would recommend it.

I only rented this movie because Sexton was in it and i appraise him for his excellent work in "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Empire Records". I heard that this movie was real good if you like crime dramas, which i do. At first the movie was real upbeat and i liked it becuase i'm a teenager and i know alot of people that talk like that, i sometimes do. Towards the middle it kind of dragged and the ending was disappointing. Kind of like Welcome to the Dollhouse, you have to decide what's going to happen. But I still enjoyed, i give "Hurricane Streets" ***1/2 out of ****

This film seemed utterly pointless...it didn't really seem to go anywhere, was quite predictable in some areas (i.e. his mother's real reason for being imprisoned), and seemed contrived in other areas. As someone who has lived most of her life in NYC, it did not seem feasible nor realistic that the abusive father of Markus's love interest knew EXACTLY where to go to find his daughter and also knew EXACTLY where the kids' clubhouse was. Brendan Sexton III's performance was promising and was really the only worthy teen performance in this film. The acting caliber of some of the kids in his clique was absolutely atrocious, more specifically the nose-pierced, tough guy Sexton's character constantly butted heads with. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'll give it a 6 and that's only because of Brendan Sexton III's contribution to this film.