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Film Review Juice Wrld Into The Abyss Dir Tommy Oliver

Emily Johnson
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film review juice wrld into the abyss dir tommy oliver

‘Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss’ is the fifth and final documentary from HBO’s Music Box series of docs. Sadly, Into the Abyss couldn’t be a more fitting title for this Juice WRLD documentary. It’s also appropriate considering the fact that he had the words tattooed in large writing on both of his forearms. Charting the rise of his massively successful career, it also subsequently charts his downfall and demise as his drug use gets more and more intense. Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss is the fifth and final documentary from HBO’s Music Box series of docs. Sadly, Into the Abyss couldn’t be a more fitting title for this Juice WRLD documentary.

It’s also appropriate considering the fact that he had the words tattooed in large writing on both of his forearms. Charting the rise of his massively successful career, it also subsequently charts his downfall and demise as his drug use gets more and more intense. I really appreciated how this didn’t play into the formulaic “an artist or an actor died, so we made a documentary full of interviews talking about how great they were.” They used clips of... Starting off with a segment featuring Juice free-styling, the audience gets to see him doing what he does best firsthand. For someone who spent most of their life walking around spitting free-styles and constantly recording raps, it’s no wonder that he has so much unreleased music. The structure of the documentary bounces back and forth between live performances of his hit songs and the preparation to get to the next stage (literally) of his career.

The ascendant performer died long before his time, but his legacy only continues to grow, chronicled in this inside-view portrait. Juice WRLD’s untimely death two years ago did little to snuff out his burgeoning stardom — quite the opposite, in fact. As evidenced by the very existence of Tommy Oliver’s documentary “Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss,” the rapper’s impact on those around him — to say nothing of his legions of fans — continues to... The film’s vérité, behind-the-scenes look at his trials and tribulations may feel surface-level to those unfamiliar with Juice, but his many admirers will likely consider it essential viewing. One of the first things we hear Juice say in the film is “I pop Percs to numb all the pain ’cause it hurts to live,” a line delivered with characteristic effortlessness in one... Like just about everything else he ever wrote and recorded, this one is “from the dome” — off the top of his head and not written in advance.

That painful admission is followed by testimonials from his peers in the music business, all of whom are effusive in their praise of the late artist’s abilities: “Juice wasn’t trying to be that,” music-video... What follows is a warts-and-all experience, with raw footage of Juice and his entourage drinking, smoking, and otherwise partying backstage and in hotel rooms; even here, he freestyles almost compulsively — it was like... In addition to Percocet, Juice was especially fond of, and dependent on, lean — a slang term for soda mixed with codeine-infused cough syrup, a dangerous mix that was equally popular (and deadly) among... The artist born Jarad Anthony Higgins rapped openly about anxiety and depression, the result being songs that are as intimate as they are anthemic. Juice was part of the SoundCloud rap movement, also known as emo rap, whose practitioners deliver intimate confessionals in a mumbly vocal style that’s as popular as it is polarizing. His untimely demise wasn’t a rarity within that genre: Lil Peep, the subject of a similar documentary, died of an accidental overdose two weeks after his 21st birthday; the controversial XXXTentacion was only 20...

Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss[1] is a 2021 documentary film, directed by Tommy Oliver. Focusing on the life and death of rapper Juice Wrld, the documentary is the sixth and final part of the HBO Max documentary series Music Box.[2] It premiered at the AFI Fest on November... Shot, edited, and produced by Oliver, the documentary contains footage from Juice's last years, and contains appearances from numerous friends and family of his, including his protégé The Kid Laroi, girlfriend Ally Lotti, and... It also features numerous frequent collaborators of Juice's, including rappers Ski Mask the Slump God, Polo G, and G Herbo, producers Benny Blanco, Rex Kudo, and Hit-Boy, and music video director Cole Bennett.[citation needed] Into the Abyss premiered at the AFI Fest on November 12, 2021, where it won the AFI Fest Documentary Audience Award, and it officially debuted on December 16, 2021, with an exclusive preview at... The documentary's release was preceded by the release of Juice's fourth studio album and second to be released posthumously, Fighting Demons.[4][5] The first single from the album, "Already Dead", was released to streaming services...

The album was officially released by Juice's labels, Grade A and Interscope Records on December 10, 2021.[citation needed] The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.[6] Conversely, film critic Steve Pulaski of Influx Magazine gave the film a negative review, saying, "Into the Abyss is perhaps the grimiest documentary that could be... Sloppy editing is one thing, but to show intimate footage of the 21-year-old artist’s spiral into addiction in such an uncritical way feels especially cruel."[7] In the grand scheme of hip-hop, Juice WRLD is etched into the unwritten book for the sheer fact that he left an indelible impact with barely two years in the game. More impressively is his singles shattered streaming records and rubbed elbows on the charts with Drake and The Weeknd — industry titans with unfathomable money behind them. Admittedly, I was never a true fan, but I respected his craft.

“Lucid Dreams” captivated me like it did almost everyone else. Having been treated to more of his music than ever before, I came away from Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss in similar awe that I did Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry earlier... What does it say about our current climate when we have people old and young finding comfort and solace in songs that detail abject misery and pain, which suggest dying is the only remedy? Unfortunately, Into the Abyss is perhaps the grimiest documentary that could be made about the late Chicago legend. Sloppy editing is one thing, but to show intimate footage of the 21-year-old artist’s spiral into addiction in such an uncritical way feels especially cruel. Even worse, during the documentary’s epilogue — which tells of Juice’s tragic death following a flight to a Chicago concert — not one member of his crew appears to express any kind of remorse.

They just grossly detail the horror on the private flight. I guess it’s to-be-expected from the same crop of folks who witnessed the barely legal rapper flash six Percocet pills on his tongue and wash it down with lean like it was your average... The final entry in HBO’s “Music Box” documentary series — whether it’s for the season or for good remains to be seen — shows the life of Jarad Anthony Higgins in explicit detail. On stage and in numerous songs, he rapped about coping with anxiety and depression by way of excessive drug use. He was part of a SoundCloud rap movement known as “emo rap,” which takes melancholic lyrics and scores them to trap-style compositions. The result is the kind of music that compliments an evening diet of substances.

Juice’s tragically young death wasn’t terribly uncommon for the genre. Fellow emo rapper Lil Peep died two weeks after his 21st birthday. Meanwhile, the eminently controversial XXXTentacion — who shared a lot of similarities with Juice, lyrically — was only 20 when he was gunned down. An intimate look into the life, and extensive career of the late hip hop star, Jarad Anthony Higgins known professionally as Juice Wrld.An intimate look into the life, and extensive career of the late... I saw Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss at AFI Festival and I knew next to nothing about Juice Wrld other than my three stepsons loved him and he had a lasting impact on these... So when I saw the film, I walked away impressed with not just Juice Wrld, the rapper, but Juice Wrld,…

I saw Juice Wrld: Into the Abyss at AFI Festival and I knew next to nothing about Juice Wrld other than my three stepsons loved him and he had a lasting impact on these... So when I saw the film, I walked away impressed with not just Juice Wrld, the rapper, but Juice Wrld, the person. From the cold opening of the film to the breakdown of how Juice became an overnight sensation, this documentary impressed me on so many different levels. I was excited to pick the brain behind the director’s chair in Tommy Oliver. He was able to bring to life this artist in a way that we had never seen before. He and I explored Juice Wrld, what made him unique and what it was like working on this project.

Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Find a schedule of release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2026 and beyond, updated daily. Our editors select the most noteworthy films debuting in March 2026, including Project Hail Mary. Find a list of new movie and TV releases on DVD and Blu-ray (updated weekly) as well as a calendar of upcoming releases on home video. Our editors select the most noteworthy films debuting in February, including Scream 7, Crime 101, and Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. We break down the highlights and the disappointments of Sundance 2026.

Find out what critics are saying about 40 notable films that debuted at this year's festival, including a roundup of award winners. Juice’s documentary was made by the same type of people who hung out with him: dogshit yes-men who’d only mention his name for a check. These people were completely devoid of any ability to engage with him or his music critically. I’m convinced that very few of them knew him any deeper than the surface, or as a person at all. It’s depressing as hell to watch his entire crew not only enable, but encourage the drug addiction that led to his death. The uncensored depiction of this addiction was arguably the film’s best quality, which still fell flat as they failed to make any statement or take any stance on it.

The deepest message I could take from this is that money is evil, but even that is left to be loosely interpreted by the viewer. Juice WRLD is honestly one of my favorite rappers of all time so I just rewatched this too see a compilation of him doing drugs and freestyling and being wholesome and shit cause it... but rewatching this also made me realize how terrible of a documentary this is 😭 the information they give you on his death and shit are mostly false and MAN the whole ally lotti... I really didn’t mind this one at all. I can watch clips of him doing random shit for days. Rest in peace to him though, his death is still heartbreaking to this day.

It's really unfortunate that so much of this documentary features Juice's immediate circle (and sometimes even the filmmakers themselves???) enabling him over and over again. The decision to spend so much time watching him push himself further and further to the edge, while his friends watch or exacerbate things is bad enough on it's own, but the last thirty-ish... It's heartbreaking, yes, but it's an unearned coda to a documentary that ~should've~ spent more time celebrating Juice WRLD's spirit, rather than relishing in his struggles.

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