Charm City Kings

By: Kemberlie Spivey

Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, Charm City Kings is an emotionally, coming-of-age, real life story of humanity and empathy. This film is inspired by the 2013 documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, about a famous clique of dirt bike riders from Maryland. Charm City Kings is a must-watch movie expressing freedom,danger, grief, and the pitfalls of being a teenager. 

Set in West Baltimore, Charm City Kings focuses on Mouse (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) who is a thirteen-year old that finds himself stuck between two worlds. With a big heart and his eyes set on becoming a veterinarian, Mouse starts hanging out with his two friends Lamont (Donielle T. Hansley) and Sweartagawd (Kezii Curtis) for the summer and trying to impress Nicki (Chandler DuPont), the new girl in the neighborhood. After losing his older brother to the streets, his mother (Teyonah Parris) forbids him from participating in the local dirt-bike gang The Midnight Clique. 

Blax (Meek Mill), an ex-con turned mechanic who is trying to leave the street life behind, sees Mouse trying to go down the same path as his big brother in the world of dirt biking and takes him under his wing. Blax offers Mouse and his friends an opportunity to build their own bikes from scrap in order to keep them away from The Midnight Clique. Also, Mouse’s community outreach mentor Detective Rivers (William Catlett) seeks interest in Mouse as well and tries to help him see there is a better future for him besides being in the streets. Mouse and his two friends soon get sucked into the street-life and his priorities of becoming a veterinarian starts to fade away. 

Mouse, Lamont and Sweartagawd’s friendship displayed in the film captures their unique personalities, foul language and their love for each other in a way that compels the story very nicely. Mouse really wants his friends to work on their bikes for the summer with Blax at the mechanic shop, but they have other ideas of what they should be doing for the summer. And that quickly turns into trouble for all three of them, especially hanging around the Midnight Clique. Jahi Di’Allo Winston’s portrayal of Mouse deserves several awards. Winston portrays Mouse at an awkward age for boys when they don’t know what to say to a girl or just want to impress their friends. 

Meek Mill’s performance as Blax really impressed me a lot. I was actually rooting for Blax to get his life back on track and open his own mechanic shop. Mill’s chemistry with Jahi Di’Allo Winston was great and the friendship they created helps bring this story together. No spoilers, but there is a scene in the movie where Mouse takes Blax’s dog Sofie to the veterinarian and let’s just say things get really emotional for both characters. At the end, you see how much Blax has changed besides being in the streets like the old days and the sacrifice he makes for Mouse changes his whole life forever. 

Soto and his cinematographer Katelin Arizmendi make you feel like you’re in on the action. Arizmendi shoots many of the scenes with precise drawn out takes, which helps occupy viewers in a scene. When the action starts to kick off, Soto and Arizmendi take the visuals to another level making the audience feel like they are in the thick of the chase on the streets of Baltimore. Director Angel Manuel Soto’s vision of showing the ups and downs of being a young black boy in the hood is incredible throughout the movie. And we can’t forget the music, which was on point in every scene. I definitely heard Meek Mill songs in most of the scenes. 

Charm City Kings provides a lot of life lessons such as protecting the ones you love no matter the sacrifice and the importance of having a future to run to. It sheds light on how becoming a man comes with adult-level consequences that some young kids aren’t prepared for. If you want unique settings, solid acting, impressive stunts and beautiful shots then Charm City Kings is the movie for you!