Can any of you reading this tell me what Thug Life actually means? For those of you who don’t know these words stand for something, they are an acronym.That acronym means The Hate U Give Little Infants F***s Everyone, meaning what you are imprinting on our future will become our future (our tomorrow). The Hate U Give is about primarily this, while it focuses on racial inequalities a little, it focuses on the title the most, because ‘the hate you give’ will come back to harm you too. It’s not only that, but it’s the hate that they give, that society gives, that we give.

Starr is a girl who lives in two worlds; one that’s poor and has mostly black people and the other is a mostly white prep school world. When her best friend Kahlil (Algee Smith) is shot after getting pulled over and taking out a hair brush, protests break out and plastic friendships start to melt. Starr is the only witness of the tragic incident between the cop and her friend. When the question of Kahlil being a drug dealer was brought up, her not so friendly neighborhood drug lord decides he would like to silence her before too much of the truth is spoken. This sets her in the crossfire of the two worlds and causes her to find out the true meaning of THUG LIFE.

A warning to book lovers out there, this movie is based off the novel of the same name The Hate U Give, by  Angie Thomas. Also another statement I would like to add, to anyone who is rolling there eyes at this movie on any side, watch it before you do. Know this, I don’t stand on the left or the right, I stand in the middle so please don’t go thinking this movie is only on one side.

Over all the movie would have to get a ten out of ten stars for me, primarily due to the message it portrays, which is THUG LIFE. The movie, while it points our racial discrimination, doesn’t focus on it fully, and that’s what makes this movie good for either side. It’s an eye opener for those who know less about the topic and I think Starr (Amandla Stenberg) was such great character and her actress was even better. If you have not seen the movie or read the book, please (and I can’t stress this enough) go see this for yourself and don’t let it get spoiled for you. I will be, from here on out talking about spoilers from the movie large or small.

Let me just start by saying Sabrina Carpenter’s character Hailey was well… annoying? I love Sabrina Carpenter but I didn’t enjoy who she played as much. When people talk about sheltered, privileged or ignorant, someone like Hailey is who they are talking about. When they are talking about Thug Life they are talking about someone like Hailey, as she is the product of hate and ignorance towards other people. I don’t find Hailey to be a bad person just someone who is not very educated on the outside world. Part of the problem too is Starr not telling her what it going on in her life. I am not sure if Starr had told Hailey her problem if Hailey’s outlook on the situation would have changed.  I didn’t like how her character ended up, but that is because I like Sabrina Carpenter, sadly though there are people like that out there in any community who never open their mind.

King (Anthony Mackie), the local drug lord in Starrs neighborhood, has to be one of the best and one of my least favorite characters. As cliche as it may sound, I am not a fan really ever of the bad guys. King was a well executed villain, while he wasn’t an in depth villain he was still good. Something I find that I don’t like all that much in movie reviews or book reviews nowadays, is that people think that a villain always has to be complicated character, when in reality, cartoon villains are based on real life people and animals. Anthony Mackie played the villian convincingly. So while I did like his character and the acting, I don’t like who character was.

Since I am giving characters paragraphs now, I think the most deserving one of this is Starr for sure, or Amandla Stenberg. My god… I love this girl, she is such a good actor and she is also inspiring to me. Amandla Stenberg was good in The Darkest Minds, I believe that she did even better in this movie. From her filmography I can see she is new to the acting scene still and yet she is probably one of the best young adult actors ever. Like her character Starr, she shines with her wonderful acting and convincingness for a character. She made me feel for her throughout the movie. I would like to be like Starr because she is such a brave character and inspires me so much to want to stand up for what I believe is right. The whole Harry Potter thing made me sad though. Starr and her other two best friends would pretend that they were the Golden Trio themselves. One day when they were doing, this King came by and meant to shoot at Starr but shot her best friend instead. Starr kept the wand of the friend that died and later retrieves Khalil’s wand. I couldn’t imagine losing two of my best friends like she did.

The message from the movie was even stronger because not only was the hate given from one side but both sides and in different dimensions (people from the same side who have different opinions) too. For example when Starr’s father finds out she is dating a white boy, he isn’t all that happy. He says that “I wasn’t a good enough example of a black man, huh?” and to that Starr replies with, “No, you were an example of who a man should be.” This part shows that he probably has some prejudice for white people, but also little on himself. This is one of my favorite parts as it is just one of the best, touching moments in the movie. Another from of prejudice shown, was when her uncle (a cop), is asked how he feels about the situation. Starr asks him, “If it was a black man, would you have shot?” The uncle replies with a yes, showing how racism can be internal as well. The racism from the cop, the dad, the uncle and many others throughout the movie, showed that prejudice comes from many people. This also gives the title The Hate U Give more meaning, as the symbolism is larger for THUG.

The movie had so many great moments and there was great spacing between them because of the great pacing. The plot was great and told well; not an intricate story, but it did tell something more meaningful to the soul.

In conclusion, this was a great movie and I think that it’s an important one for our times. No matter what your political outlook on life is, this is good movie I think you should go see. If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, and are now reading this, then believe me you can still go see the movie and enjoy it. Also if you’re going let me know. I gotta go see that again. Thank you all to reading about my ramble. Make sure go read the book or see the movie and remember THUG LIFE.