everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A different way of telling a story

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I was hoping the main character, played by Janet Jackson, would lead to more adventures, like making a career out of her poetry composing, or befriend a nicer guy than Lucky (Tupac). After her boyfriend is killed at the beginning, Justice dives into despair and writes poems to escape her depression. She is dragged along for an anonymous ride with her friend and her boyfriend plus Lucky, which ends up in nothing but arguments and domestic violence. Why is Justice hanging out with these people? She could have made it big with her poetry and gotten out of South Central, get her dreams started and move on from her harsh life. Instead nothing really happens except that she and Lucky seem to share the same views on violent social life, which turns out to be boring.John Singleton seems to put in more bitchy, annoying domestic and social arguments between his characters in this film, Higher Learning, Baby Boy and this film unfortunately lack the deepness of his outstanding directional techniques he used for his first feature film, Boyz In Da Hood. 2fast 2furious and Four Brothers are taken out of the ghetto, but they don't share the rawness and desperation of Boyz. Shaft, on the other hand, is a change to the director's inventory and also shines a few "behind the camera" genius sparks he first showed us in his Oscar-nominated film Boyz In Da Hood.

It's clear what Singleton attempted to do with this one, and I'd say it was a noble effort. Of course the script could've been tighter and the climax stronger and more rewarding, thus resulting in a more worthwhile film. However, in the film's defense, the charismatic Tupac shines while convincingly helming the sole well-conceived role. He's the best reason -- perhaps the only reason -- viewers should join in on the film's road trip to Oakland. He's subtle but confident, forceful but not heavy-handed, complex but genuine -- all the things that have also made him a legendary (and sorely missed) rapper. On the other hand, regarding Ms. Jackson... Well, I'll attempt to simply and kindly take the high road and say she probably shouldn't attempt to act again (unless she takes some drama classes). Janet simply doesn't get it. She doesn't understand the craft. She "acts" throughout the entire movie, something a skilled and experienced performer would never be caught doing. Perhaps Singleton was just too smitten with her to inform her that performing requires more than just emoting and script recitation. I understand that fans of Janet's music will invariably take issue with my comments, but if they'd simply separate her on-screen skills from her (heavily studio-enhanced) musical skills, I believe they'd have to agree with me. And it doesn't help that Janet's character (Justice) isn't a well-written, fully-developed and focused role; that's Singleton's fault -- not Janet's. Also, in the movie, fans of Maya Angelou will enjoy her cameo and the verses she wrote for Janet's character, a poet. And the fan(s) of Regina King will appreciate the challenging, range-revealing character stretch she takes on: she portrays a sassy, shallow, one-dimensional young lady with an attitude (that's something we've never seen her play before). Overall, Poetic Justice isn't one of Sigleton's finest moments, but again, revisiting Tupac's performance makes it entertaining and somewhat worthwhile.

I saw this film after becoming addicted to 'Boyz n the hood'and 'Higher learning', I think John Singleton is one of the greatest filmmakers working today and Poetic Justice is a great example of a truly dedicated and talented filmmaker. The story starts off with Justice (played brilliantly by Janet Jackson, what a surprise)who witnesses the slaying of her boyfriend at a movie, justice becomes very depressed with life and feels nothing but loneliness. She expresses this by writing poems in a notebook to reveal her pain for her lost love and for the pain of living in America's South central l.a district. Lucky (again played greatly by Tupac Shakur in i feel his most personal and greatest role from 'Juice' right up to 'Gang Related')is a postman with nothing to look forward for in his life except to look after his daughter and a dream of rapping his pain for the hood. Together they go on a road trip with two other friends and learn on how to live again and to find their way in life. The performances are great, Singletons direction is wonderful. If your a fan of other 'hood' movies than this you might find a little different from the others. But nonetheless a deep hearted gem. 9/10

Poetic Justice is an urban film but within this catgory it stands out from alot of them in its own way. The movie uses some very interesting elements that I was familiar with and like most urban films they use realistic characters. The camerawork is nothing new but some of it is really good to look at. Janet Jackson is good as the somewhat uptight poet/hairdresser who is mourning the loss of her lover while on a night out with him as is Tupac in a rather different role from the ones he has in Juice, Bullet and Above The Rim. Not only is the role different but as a man it's impossible to not relate to him as you see his struggles in his life including one powerful scene in which he catches his baby's mother smokin' crack and having other men in his daughter's presence - I thought this worked great because I know how I'd feel if I had a kid and my baby's mother is bringing other men around my kid: I wouldn't be too happy. The road trip is where you begin to see all the characters(Pac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Regina King and Joe Torry) develop and John Singleton wastes little time doing that during that time...Poetic Justice is a movie deserving alot more credit than it's getting but too bad there are people out there with stupid stereotypical assumptions so idiotic it can get someone angry8/10