Starr Carter is a sixteen year old girl who is in the midst of two worlds: Her neighbourhood, Garden Heights, and Williamson, the private school she attends. Starr's neighbourhood is a place where gangs, drugs and crime are often at the forefront. Williamson is the antithesis to that. Although Garden Heights is filled with violence and things might appear to be all sinister, people care about each other and look out for one another. There's a warmth and sense of home and community. Although Starr loves her home, she's torn between these two versions of herself. She calls the school version of herself 'Starr version 2.' At Williamson, Starr's afraid if she acts 'too black' she'll be labelled ghetto. And in Garden Heights, she can't act too 'Williamson.'
When Starr goes to a party with her friend Kenya, she sees her childhood friend, Khalil, whom she hasn't seen in a long time. The two catch up and everything's going great, until someone shoots a gun at the party. Khalil and Starr rush out and get in his car. A police officer pulls them over, demanding Khalil to climb out of the vehicle. Starr keeps her hands visible and urges Khalil to do the same. She gets a look at the officer's badge number which is 115. When Khalil is outside the car, he talks to Starr and leans inside to grab his hairbrush. The officer then shoots him and Starr screams, rushing to her friend's side. Officer 115 frantically asks Starr where the weapon is. The 'weapon' was Khalil's hairbrush. Khalil dies and a grief-stricken Starr is taken in for questioning.
The worlds she inhabits as well as the two versions of herself collide following the tragedy and Starr is left with questions about the aftermath of police brutality and the effects of racism. She finds it harder and harder to be at school and to watch idly from the sidelines. During Khalil's funeral, a lawyer with Just Us for Justice, April Ophra, says that the police have no intention of arresting the officer who murdered Khalil. She also glances at Starr in a knowing way. Starr's friend, Hailey, shows prejudiced behaviour and this leaves Starr wondering how they came to be friends in the first place.
After a TV interview, the biggest drug dealers in Garden Heights called the King Lords, watches the Carter family outside a restaurant and Starr's father, Maverick confronts him. The leader, King, threatens Starr because she snitched on him. This leads to an altercation and two policemen tell Maverick to get on the ground. When Starr records it on her phone, one of the officers realises she's the witness. She apologises to her dad and says that she should've stayed quiet, but Maverick tells her that she can't let anybody make her quiet.
Hailey and Starr have a fallout at school and Chris, Starr's boyfriend, drives her home. While in the car, she gets a message and they go to King's house, where they find her brother Seven beaten up. Seven's mother tells them to leave before King returns. They learn that the officer won't be arrested and there's a protest. Chris drives them where the protest is and Starr and Seven stay behind. April hands Starr the megaphone and Starr uses her voice.
She and Seven get a ride and they go to their father's store to get milk for their burning eyes. The King Lords start a fire inside the store with Starr and Seven inside. The siblings struggle to find a way out. Fortunately, two store owners see the fire and rush out to help. Maverick and the rest of the family arrive and Maverick opens the door, freeing his kids. King is arrested and since the entire community stands up to him, the snitch rules don't apply. Starr sits in Khalil's room, looks through his belongings and promises herself that she'll always be her true self and light up the darkness.
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THUG highlights the issues of racism and police brutality that are as present today as it was fifty years ago. It shows the harsh reality that African Americans and people of colour all over the world have to deal with. The movie did an amazing job of making voices heard.
It has an excellent cast who each performed brilliantly in their roles. Amandla Stenberg is great as Starr Carter. She brings a sense of vulnerability as well as rawness to the character, peeling back her layers to reveal a sensitive and strong-willed girl who craves to speak the truth and make herself heard.
Sabrina Carpenter, who played Hailey, is wonderful in her role. Hailey is a character who is essentially blind to her own racist tendencies, saying and doing little things that would probably not be perceived as blatant racism, but falls under that umbrella nonetheless. Because Hailey's friends with Starr, that contributes to her denying that she's got any prejudice towards black people. She says Starr is different and when Starr asks her if she's a 'nonthreatening black girl,' Hailey replies 'yes.' Racism comes in many forms. People don't need to use derogatory terms or racial slurs or physically assault a black person to be racist.
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