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The Wrecking Crew
In General
A group of teenagers who spend most of their days skipping school to goof around and have fun all over Harlem. They are all striving for any kind of respect on the streets, or "juice", as they are endlessly harassed by thugs on the street, particularly one thug named Radames and his gang. To achieve this, they stage the robbery of a local bodega, but it goes horribly wrong..
- A House Divided: As soon as Raheem dies. Even slightly before, when Quiles is killed for no reason.
- Four Temperament Ensemble:
- Melancholic - Q
- Sanguine - Steele
- Phlegmatic - Raheem
- Choleric - Bishop.
- Vague Age: They're all in high school but engage in activities far out of their reasonable age range. At most, they're all 18.
Q
Quincy "Q" Powell
- Portrayed by: Omar Epps
The protagonist of the film. He is an aspiring DJ who spends most of his time hanging out with his friends, dubbed "The Wrecking Crew", and skipping school. If he's not doing either of those things, he's trying to compete in DJ competitions in order to earn respect.
- The Ace: It's downplayed, but he is probably the one member of the crew that's the most deserving of respect, or "juice"; he's handsome, charismatic, and gifted in the art of deejaying.
- The Charmer: Not as much as Raheem, but it's ironically Raheem himself who orders Q to woo a female clerk at the record store as the others steal some vinyls. It works very well.
- Chick Magnet: He charms two women in the film, one a Gonk and another an attractive, fit woman in her 20s who recently divorced her husband.
- The Heart: He's second to Raheem in terms of being the glue that holds the crew together. After Raheem's death, he takes the reigns as being the one thing barely keeping everybody under control.
- The Hero: He's the central protagonist of the story.
- Likes Older Women: He's in a relationship with a nurse in her 20s.
- Nice Guy: He's arguably the nicest person in his friend group, if not the entire film.
- Only Sane Man: He's the only one of the crew (other than Steele, arguably) who wants to earn respect legitimately and doesn't let Radames' harassment corrupt him.
- Pretty Boy: Not to the extent of Raheem, but he is very handsome, and uses it to charm a female clerk as his friends steal records from a store.
- The Stoic: He's usually very reserved, quiet, and calm.
- Not So Stoic: As the stress piles up, Q's demeanor starts to become more emotional, usually that of paranoia and anger.
- Survivor's Guilt: He becomes a broken shell after Raheem's murder, Steel's shooting, and Bishop's death.
Bishop
Roland Bishop
- Portrayed by: Tupac Shakur
One of the "Wrecking Crew" and Q's best friend since the second grade. His father is an ex-convict who was raped in jail and therefore lost his "juice", which has fueled his desperate need to get "juice" of his own.
- Ambiguous Situation: Why did he kill Quiles? Did he legitimately think he made a move, or did he do that just to say he did and earn that "juice" he sought after? Similarly, how much did he want to kill Raheem? He raises his gun at him and deliberately aims it to shoot. Even so, he stares at Raheem in shock, and starts panicking after he dies.
- Ax-Crazy: He will shoot anybody who provokes him. He kills Quiles, Raheem, Radames, and very nearly kills Steel and Q.
- Berserk Button: Insulting his father, who was a victim of rape in prison. Radames uses this against him, which makes Bishop suddenly snap and frantically try to break out of his friends' grasp.
- Blatant Lies/Believing Their Own Lies: He frames Q for his own shootings of Quiles, Raheem, Radames, and Steel, eventually to Q's face. It sounds like he actually believes it, too.
- Disney Villain Death: He finally meets his end by falling off of a building.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: Once he finally gets a gun in his hand, his personality takes a dark turn.
- Dude, Where's My Respect??: He rants to his friends about being tired of being bullied and having to always run from Cops, Radames and Old Man Quiles.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Or papas. He has clear love for his grandmother, but it's his father that he slips money to, checks up on, and tries to earn respect on his behalf.
- Face–Heel Turn: After killing Quiles, and especially after killing Raheem.
- Frame-Up: He frames Q for his rampage and succeeds.
- Freudian Excuse: His need for "juice" is even more personal and tragic than his peers'. His father was raped in jail, which destroyed any and all respect he had, and made him an unresponsive Empty Shell. This combined with constant harassment from Radames encourages Bishop to get some "juice" on behalf of himself and his father.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Constant torture from Radames and his goons eventually breaks Bishop and tempts him to pull dangerous feats in order to finally get respect. This results in him robbing Old Man Quiles, killing him, and killing Raheem.
- Honor Before Reason: He is distraught over Blizzard's death and legitimately wishes he was there to help him with the robbery.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: The way he kills Quiles and Raheem.. probably.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: His murder of Radames who clearly deserved it.
- Last-Name Basis: He's never referred to by his first name.
- Missing Mom: He seems to only live with his grandmother and father.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He insults Radames' ethnicity, calling him slurs in Spanish and referring to him as a "beans and rice son of a bitch".
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: He’s the Red to Raheem’s Blue.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: He carries around a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson Model 64, bought and given to him by Raheem from Sweets. Strangely, he is able to shoot much more than its six-shot capacity would lead you to believe.
- Sanity Slippage: As Radames' torment gets to him, and especially after his murders of Quiles and Raheem.
- Then Let Me Be Evil:
- Q: "You crazy, man."Bishop: "You know what? When you said that last time, I was kinda trippin', right? But now.. you're right. I am crazy. But you know what else? ..I don't give a fuck."
- Token Evil Teammate: That's kind of a stretch when you remember that Raheem is the one that suggested robbing Old Man Quiles in the first place, but he is the one who randomly shot Quiles unprovoked.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss his character without spoiling his Face–Heel Turn.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He tries to invoke this on Steel and Q once he realizes that they want nothing to do with him anymore. He shoots Steel but Q stops him before he can do the same to him.
Raheem
Raheem Porter
- Portrayed by: Khalil Kain
The leader of the "Wrecking Crew". He's a smooth-talking, charismatic Pretty Boy, who is usually the one squashing any confrontations with Radames. He had a child with his ex-girlfriend, who wants nothing to do with him as he refuses to grow up. After seeing her with her new boyfriend, who has a nice car and lots of "juice", he decides to stage the robbery of Old Man Quiles' bodega.
- Ambiguously Brown: He's light-skinned and played by an Afro-Asian actor. His mother is darker skinned than him and his sister. Their father is never seen, and his sister has no Asian features, so it's possible that Raheem is just supposed to be a light-skinned African American.
- Everyone Has Standards: He's understandably disgusted by Bishop's murder of Old Man Quiles.
- Green-Eyed Monster: His motivation for getting some "juice" is seeing his ex with a new man.
- The Heart: He keeps the group together and lifts their spirits. The group's morale significantly drops as soon as he dies.
- Ladykiller in Love: He's known to be The Casanova, but he quite clearly still has feelings for his ex, and that motivates him to get some more respect.
- The Leader: Of the Wrecking Crew.
- Sacrificial Lion: He's killed by Bishop as he tries to take the gun away from him.
- Pretty Boy: He's a very handsome guy and uses that to his advantage.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Bishop’s Red.
Steel
Eric "Steel" Thurman
- Portrayed by: Jermaine "Huggy" Hopkins
A member of the "Wrecking Crew". He's an overweight, ditzy, and slightly dorky guy who tries to be cool like his friends but usually fails.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: His little brother's only scene is of him scaring Steel awake, making him fall off the top bunk of their bed and get yelled at by their father.
- Big Eater: He's not seen eating as much as a Big Fun is expected to but going off of his weight and the breakfast mush he makes for his friends, he's definitely this.
- Big Fun: He's fat and provides a fair share of comic relief for the film.
- Break the Cutie: He is clearly not cut out for the crimes Raheem and Bishop want to commit. Once Bishop shoots and kills Quiles and Raheem, Steel becomes a broken, blubbering mess.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He's the only one other than Q who knows the truth about Bishop's rampage, and he uses that knowledge to clear Q's name.
- Lethal Chef: He cooks up an absolutely disgusting mess of breakfast stuff for his friends to eat one morning. It consists of messy, wet scrambled eggs, undercooked bacon, and beer.
- Lovable Coward: He cracks under pressure very easily, but that just makes you want to give him a hug.
- Military Brat: His father is a strict man with a booming voice who orders Steel around like a soldier and wears a veteran's jacket.
- Uncertain Doom: It's unknown if he pulled through after being hospitalized by Bishop.
Harlem Residents
Radames
Radames
- Portrayed by: Vincent Laresca
A thug who constantly hassles Q and his friends. He's the leader of his own gang of hoodlums who dominate the streets of Harlem, starting trouble with any innocent bystander they can get their hands on. Bishop is the one who first suggests the plan of earning some "juice" just to one-up Radames and put an end to his harassment.
- Asshole Victim: The dude REALLY had it coming and was really long overdue.
- Disc-One Final Boss: In a way. He's the main antagonist of the first act, only to be later usurped by Bishop.
- Hate Sink: Every scene he appears in instills pure hatred towards him. Needless to say, there isn't a single person who watched the film who wasn't satisfied when Bishop finally put the asshole out of his misery.
- Jerkass: If his constant harassment of the crew and other innocent people didn't tip you off enough, yes, he is not a pleasant person.
- Karma Houdini: He never gets arrested or anything of the sort for harassing people, at most being chased off by Old Man Quiles.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: ..Until Bishop gets that gun..
- Karmic Death: Bishop shoots and kills him in an alley after being chased off by the cops.
- Kick the Dog: He brings up Bishop's father's rape in jail when hassling him, but only after Bishop calls him a "maricón".
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He has a rather unflattering description of Bishop's father at the ready.
- "Maricón?! If you're looking for faggots, you don't have to look farther than your pa! My boy tells me he enjoyed being a prisonyard hoe!"
Old Man Quiles
"Old Man" Quiles
- Portrayed by: Victor Campos
An old Puerto Rican man who runs a nearby bodega. He's so fed up with teenagers brawling outside his store that he's perfectly willing to chase them off with a gun. Other than that, he seems to be a pretty decent guy.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs and pleads through tears for his life to Bishop during the robbery. Sadly, this doesn't save him.
- Boom, Headshot!: Bishop puts a bullet through his head, despite him doing exactly as asked in the robbery.
- Hero Antagonist: He's clearly not a bad guy at all, and yet he's one of the people Bishop lists as a reason they never get any respect.
- Nice Guy: When he's not waving his gun at unruly teenagers, he's actually a very swell guy. When someone (Bishop) enters the store after hours, instead of yelling at him or even raising his gun, he politely tells him that he's closed.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He only chases the teens with a gun when they keep loitering and fighting outside of his store.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He only has one small scene before the robbery that killed him.
- Would Hurt a Child: Kind of a stretch when the only people he threatens are aged 17-early 20s, but he won't hesitate to threaten high schoolers with his gun if they cause trouble near his store.
Blizzard
Barnett "Blizzard" Jenkins
- Portrayed by: Darien Berry
An ex-con friend of the Wrecking Crew. Q runs into him at a bar right as he prepares to rob the joint. After the crew leaves, he dies in a police shootout.
- Killed Offscreen: We last see him going through with the robbery. The police shootout that killed him happens entirely offscreen.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's only onscreen for a few minutes and yet he's the last straw in Bishop's miserable existence as someone with no "juice".
- Toxic Friend Influence: The crew seems to consider him a friend, despite him being someone who has been to jail and is perfectly willing to stick up bars. He especially has an effect on Bishop.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: We don't get much characterization from him before he is killed by the police.
Yolanda
Yolanda
- Portrayed by: Cindy Herron
A nurse in her 20s who recently divorced from her husband and is now in a relationship with Q.
- Amicable Exes: Downplayed. While Yolanda tries her best to be friendly towards her ex-husband as she sends him on his way, said ex-husband is very salty over the fact that she wants to move on from him. His saltiness only increases when Q comes knocking on her door.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Sweet as she is, Yolanda is no pushover, which she proves by kicking Q out of her apartment after he snaps at her for walking in on him, due to his mixed anger and paranoia over his first run-in with Bishop following the disastrous robbery of Old Man Quiles's bodega.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Thanks to Steel, she exposes the truth that Q is being framed by Bishop.
- Hospital Hottie: She's a nurse and she's drop-dead gorgeous.
