User Reviews

I am aware that the film was shot on a shoestring budget, the actors are not experienced and the it was intended as a direct-to-video movie. Taking all these things into consideration, and going in with low expectations, the film was still terrible. One does not need experienced actors or a big budget in order to make a good film. Look at Gus Van Sants "Elephant," Kevin Smiths "Clerks." Okay i'm being trite, you can think of dozens of extremely low-budget films that were well-done, taking things into consideration. I'm in no way expecting Juney Smith to be Kevin Smith or Hal Hartley, but I was also not expecting him or anyone else to make this movie. I didn't think it was even possible. People have intentionally tried to make bad movies and they have not been as bad as this. If you hand a six-year old or a Troma film producer a camera, he or she will turn out something better than this.

I got to see this at the "premiere" at a small theater in NYC that probably rents out theaters for screenings such as this. Part of the film was shot at Gleasons Gym in Brooklyn, NY, where my sister happens to train. She was an extra in the film, so they invited her to see the film. Being a filmmaker myself, and taking budget constraints into consideration, I went in with an open mind.

The film is about a group of high school friends who live on the mean streets of, well some urban ghetto. One of them is an aspiring boxer, he has the usual slew of hoodish friends who bring him down. They come up with some plan to rob a potato chip factory. I'll give points for originality there. So they rob the place, almost get caught, have a chip-eating montage, and the main character is shot to death. It ends at his funeral, and then with a big title card, telling us to avoid a life of crime. If you were bothered by this spoiler, had any intentions on seeing this film, or are even reading this review because you were unfortunate enough to have stumbled upon this movie, than you deserve the film to be spoiled for you.

I got a chance to speak with the director afterward. I had to work really hard to avoid him asking any questions that would require me to lie while trying to keep a straight face while answering. I think I asked him what stock he used (it was obviously 16mm, shot poorly). Had I not have been promised refreshments afterward, I would have walked out. It turns out that all they had were cheese cubes (which had that i've been sitting out all day" dried/oily look) and those water crackers that come in five different variants per box. I felt like two hours of my life were wasted. I could not even take this film as a learning experience, as I already knew that this was not the way to make a movie. At no point did I see something that I have considered or ever considered putting in a movie. Therefore, i couldn't even say, "Well, I would NEVER do that!" I am quite confident in saying that anyone with half a brain cell would have known not to do anything that Juney Smith has done in this film. It is that bad.

The ONLY reason you should ever see this film, is if you need proof of the existence of Satan. This film will not only prove this but also make you believe that he rules the world. Or at least whatever production company it was that made this film.

In closing, the following are things you could do with your time instead of watching this film...

-have your tires rotated. -Find one of those video dealers who specialize in episodes of any show, and get episodes of "Still the Beaver." -Make invitations for a celebrity dress-up day at your work or school. -Make Kool-aid ice pops by filling ice-cube trays with kool-aid, covering with a sheet of wrap and putting a toothpick in each cube hole. -Have a "Problem Child" Marathon. -Sing "Amazing Grace" to any sitcom theme song tune of your choosing. -Chew broken glass.

Use your imagination. If ever you are given the opportunity to see this film, please don't. If you want to, you can spend your two hours writing me a thank-you letter. Although you will never really know if I was right or not, when you die and are at the gates of St. Peter, and he asks you if you have seen "Kickin' it High," you can say an honest "no," and not suffer eternal damnation.

...or two movies forced into one. The first movie is about high school friends who do what most high school friends do except their high school is set in a poor 'urban' area and/or "the hood", and they're just trying to survive and they do some stupid things. I use quotation marks for "urban" because these types of schools also exist in rural areas. The second movie is a form of propaganda-preaching. When we're not in the first movie, we're in the second movie. They do not coexist simultaneously within each other. That's a huge reason this film drags from one scene to the next. Frankly, I think they should have focused on the propaganda-preaching movie and had the first movie be the backdrop. I think that would have been better. This film also focuses on the Soundtrack. While certain scenes are playing out, they have a particular song (mainly rap) playing up front for a minute or two and then it fades into the background. Sometimes the songs last longer and it's stagnant and becomes boring.

Now, I'm not usually for propaganda-preaching films but in this if they did it right, I think it would have worked, also it created emotional moments and even maybe a couple of humorous ones. Now, when they go into the preaching they are usually long-winded but then after the speech is over an "action" scene happens, most times. Why did I quote action? Because, though listed as an action film, there really isn't that much action in it. Some raised voices but little action and what action there is is really uneventful.

Now, I'm sure if you're reading this you may be wondering what I mean by "propaganda-preaching". In this case I am meaning: taking factual information and spinning it greater than it is to preach a factual point. Example: one scene a mother states to her son that 90% of those in the US prison system are black and Hispanic/Latinos. That is not true. While the combined actual number is fairly high (59% as of 2015) it is not 90%. That is taking an actual fact (high combined percentage) and exaggerating or spinning it to an exorbitant number that is, in this case, already exorbitant. Now, it could have been written that way to drive a point, and I'd be on board if there weren't so many other scenes that preached like that. Another example (which is a humorous scene) is in the beginning with the white nerd teacher (stereotype) said Columbus discovered North America (or the Americas) and the student says it was actually the Native Americans. Actually, it was the Asians to be more specific. And even before Columbus, it was the Vikings but that scene was driving a point of racial inequality so while it can get a pass it's still, in my opinion, propaganda-preaching.

The acting actually isn't too bad in parts; especially during the emotional scenes (they weren't emotional for me but for everyone else they probably are). The direction wasn't that bad, either. The first movie (or plot) is a typical cliché story in this genre, and the second movie (or plot) was too much at times but wouldn't have been that bad if it just wasn't all over the place with no real reason other than to preach it as if to get it into one's mind in some type of repetition. That means the fault mainly lies in the script being poorly written and/or executed.

Overall, it's not that bad if viewing it just the one time, maybe twice if you enjoyed the propaganda-preaching scenes.

I do dislike these films, speaking as an atheist, that perpetuate that idea that those who believe in a god do not commit crimes; or most of them don't. US prison systems have mainly Christians in them (65%-68%). A Christian majority country (or almost any religious or non- religious majority) would more than likely have that majority represented in most things in that country or place. Atheists, in the US Federal Prison System, as of 2013 only 0.07% of prisoners identified as an atheist. As of 2014 8% of the US identified as an atheist (atheist/agnostic- atheist). Doing the math +/- those figures, there is no way that atheists populate the most in US prisons or jails. Muslims even only make up 15% of US prisons and many of those are Christians in prison converting to Islam. Even if Christians in the US considered everyone not Christian an atheist, Christians still outnumber all others combined. Why? Because the US is 76% Christian. Propaganda-preaching. (Numbers above come from Pew Forum, US Federal Prison System, and General Survey Association)