8 Mile vs. Get Rich or Die Tryin’

Release Dates: 8 Mile – November 6, 2002

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – November 9, 2005

Production Companies: 8 Mile – Universal Pictures/Imagine Entertainment

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – Paramount Pictures, along with Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films and MTV Films

It’s been a long time coming. I had told myself to do this in the past. Why had I not done it? I don’t know but I am finally doing it.

There is so much I could say about these two films. They both came out at the height of Eminem and 50 Cent’s popularities. They both came out in a certain timeframe, which I am not sure if it was a coincidence or intentional. Then again, I recall reading that “8 Mile” was initially supposed to be released in the summer of 2002 but was delayed until the fall of that year. And finally, these films are pseudo-biopics of the leading actors. Why did I call them “pseudo-biopics”? Because their life stories were the basis but not really the actual stories. If anything, the movies are fiction but also have some references to their life, at least to a point.

However, there are differences between the two films. Let me start by talking about “8 Mile.”

So this film has Eminem playing a character named Jimmy Smith but goes by “Rabbit” as that is his rap name. Being that Eminem is from Detroit, a lot of the film was set and shot in 8 Mile Road and was also set in 1995. I think it was set in that time because Em had been on the battle rapping circuit at that point before he got signed years later. So he has a group of friends who support him but he has problems of his own, such as a girlfriend leaving him and lying about being pregnant. He moved back in with his mother, who is dating a guy with whom Rabbit went to school. Oh, and there is a rival crew of rappers and thugs who have issues with Rabbit and his crew, along with a young woman who catches Rabbit’s eye.

Eminem impressed me a bit with his acting ability, but in a lot of ways, I am not sure if he is really playing himself or a character. I can’t say what he’s really like but there were some parts that felt like he was playing himself but at the same time playing a character. Accord to IMDB trivia, Eminem said that personal history would limit the storytelling and characterization, but playing a character would be unrestricted in his performance. It’s a lot more than I could say about his character in “The Wash,” but that was more of a cameo at best.

What really stood out, in my opinion, was Curtis Hanson’s (RIP) direction. It was clear that he went all in when it came to the rap battle scenes, he started an improv battle among some rappers who auditioned and the three best would go up against Eminem, who mimed his battles because he had to save his voice for the scripted scenes. I recall seeing something like that on the DVD extras way back when.

Interestingly enough, I was also impressed by some of the rappers who did the battles, as well as other freestyling scenes. A couple of rappers who appeared were Obie Trice and the late Proof (of D12), whom Eminem was cool with and had signed to his label at the time this was filmed.

As for “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” well, this one is a different case. Not that it was meant to be exactly like “8 Mile,” but because 50 Cent was involved in criminal activity before becoming a rapper, some sources have said that it was “75% accurate” to 50’s life story. Of course, this wasn’t a straight-up biopic of 50’s life. If anything, this felt more like a hood movie and a gangster movie with the rapping subplot being something the main character, Marcus, pursuing while being a gangster (or is it “gangsta”?).

If I have to treat this as a fictional take or a fictional story, this movie is fine for what it is. I felt like I was watching something like “Juice” or “Menace II Society,” or probably a much better version of “Hot Boyz,” which says a lot considering how bad that film was.

I felt like 50 acted more like himself this time. I am not sure if this film was supposed to kick off his acting career but after this, he mostly did straight-to-video films and played supporting roles in other films because he hadn’t had lead roles in theatrical films after this. I am not sure if “All Things Fall Apart” was released in theaters but that film felt more like a passion project for him.

I will give both films credit for the soundtracks. With “8 Mile” taking place in 1995, it was interesting to hear Mobb Deep, The Notorious B.I.G, Naughty By Nature, and I was intrigued to hear “Gotta Git Mine” by MC Breed and 2Pac in one scene. You only get snippets of Eminem’s songs in the film, at least until the credits. As for GRoDT, you get a lot of 50 songs but I’ll give it that they were supposed to be what 50’s character wrote and performed because it didn’t explicitly state when the film was set.

As for anything else, I would probably say “8 Mile” was the better film. I know that “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” has its fans and I didn’t mind the film but when comparing the two, “8 Mile” was superior because Eminem really did his best in what is likely his only film role and the director did what he could to make the film work. Plus, the script worked with some of Em’s life elements implemented while incorporating some other elements to make it feel like a fictional story than a biopic. GRoDT, on the other hand, I never claimed to be an expert on 50’s life but I am not sure how much is accurate, especially subplots involving a Colombian gang and stuff. If one was to treat it like a fictional crime story, then it’s fine, I suppose.

I had seen “8 Mile” before but it had been years but until I decided to do this post, I had never seen “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” in its entirety.

What also separates the two was that “8 Mile” was the bigger hit. It had an overall gross of more than $240 million while GRoDT barely made its budget back. I think that one was a bigger hit on video and developed a cult following over the years. Personally, I enjoyed both films but I treat them as their own things.

8 Mile – 4/5

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – 3/5

Movie Review – “Notorious” (2009)

Release Date: January 16, 2009

Production Companies: Fox Searchlight Pictures (Later known as Searchlight Pictures after Disney acquisition)/Bad Boy Films/By Storm Films/State Street Pictures/Voletta Wallace Films

Wow. It had been quite some time since I had last seen this. I recall seeing this on opening weekend at the start of 2009. So it’s been a little more than 14 and a half years since I had last watched. Not to say I didn’t have chances of revisiting it, but after doing my re-review on “All Eyez on Me” (the film), it was a given that I would revisit this.

Back in the late-2000s, I remember hearing that a movie on Biggie Smalls (or The Notorious B.I.G.) was in production. I know that as a longtime hip-hop head that I would see it because up to that point, aside from an MC Hammer movie done for VH1 (which was in 2001, the early-2000s), there had not been any biopics done on rappers. I knew I was going to see it anyway, especially since my younger cousin, who was about 12 at the time, wanted to see it.

It’s crazy to think that Biggie had quite an impact and legacy after his untimely demise. He had only recorded two albums (though for the second one, he died weeks before its release). He had a crew of his own, Junior M.A.F.I.A. (it stood for “Masters at finding intelligent attitudes”) whom had released an album of their own. He also was known for getting the East Coast back on the map in the rap world as up to that point (the 1990s), the West Coast was getting big with the likes of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, Too $hort, E-40, etc. I can go on, but the point I am making is that even though the East Coast originated hip-hop, during the time of Biggie’s rise, the West Coast was at the top of the rap game but Biggie helped bring it back to the East as well.

So it was no surprise that a biopic about him was made. Plus, this was the first one to get a theatrical release.

Before I get into my review, let me just say this – I can’t say that I was the biggest Biggie fan out there. Now don’t get me wrong. The man ripped the mic well. He was good at rapping and had different topics he rapped about. He was popular. I have listened to his albums, “Ready to Die” and “Life After Death,” and his two posthumous albums, “Born Again” and “Duets: The Final Chapter.” But what has always gotten in all my years of listening to hip-hop, when looking at Top 10 or 20 lists, you often see Biggie and Tupac at the top of the lists. Again, Biggie was popular and sure knew how to spit, and he does earn the respect he was given as an artist, and I say this as someone who lived to see his career up to his untimely death, it just feels like when it comes to rap legends, it’s always either Tupac or Biggie at the top over everyone when there are other artists to consider legends. Hell, I remember an old coworker (who was much younger than me) asking me who I chose between Biggie or Tupac, but I had to school him on other artists, many of whom he had never heard of. Part of me wonders if it’s because they’re deceased, but I never ever denied that Biggie had a good flow and storytelling. So a biopic on him was in order back in those days. I still wouldn’t consider him to be one of my top favorite artists, but I did like his music even when he was alive.

With all that being said, it’s time to talk about the film.

The story starts with a young Christopher Wallace (Biggie’s real name, by the way) at school with his friend talking about rapping and stuff. I also found out recently that young Biggie was played by Christopher Wallace Jr., who was Biggie’s real-life son with Faith Evans. I found that interesting that his son played his father as a child. Anyway, so it showed bits of him in childhood then into his teen years when he was pushing crack up until he started rapping and then his rise to fame and then everything that led to his untimely demise.

Biggie was portrayed by Jamal Woolard, who is a rapper himself and he captured the essence of the late rapper. He not only had the look but his voice was similar enough, but what really stood out was that it seemed he did his own rapping for the recreations of some songs or the scenes when he would freestyle. It didn’t sound like he was lip-synching over the real Biggie’s vocals.

So it was good to see that Woolard did his own rapping for this film. He was a rapper before he got cast, after all.

As for any other performances, I can’t complain when Angela Bassett is on screen as she did fine as Voletta Wallace, Biggie’s mother. However, I can’t say the same thing about Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur.

I must say this. When I went to go watch this in theaters and I saw who was supposed to be Tupac, I was like “Huh? Him?!” Okay, yes, while he may be known for portraying Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but because it was 2009 when this came out, I mostly remembered him as Poppa Doc in “8 Mile,” who got roasted to bits by Eminem in the climactic rap battle scene. Even when he was in 2013’s “Pain & Gain” I still saw him as Poppa Doc. It doesn’t help that he didn’t feel like Pac in the scenes he was in.

But aside from that, I like how the storytelling also paints Biggie as a not-so-good person. While he may have been beloved as a rapper, he was definitely no saint. He not only sold drugs but also treated women badly, especially the women in his life like Faith Evans and Lil’ Kim. Did I also mention that he wasn’t very faithful to both women? I guess what I said is evident of such behavior.

Many of the characters felt shallow and if you think about it, there was a lot to be told in this story that there wasn’t enough focus on the others because it had to touch on some events that had occurred. Yes, this film was full of clichés, but a lot of films are like that.

After this long since the first time I saw it, I have to say that it holds up for what it is, but when compared to other biopics, at least those released in cinemas, “Straight Outta Compton” still felt superior. I know I need to revisit that one because it has been a long time since I last saw it, but regarding “Notorious,” it’s miles better than “All Eyez on Me.” I won’t pretend that this film didn’t have flaws. I already mentioned Anthony Mackie’s performance as Tupac (which in a lot of ways is kind of funny in hindsight) but there were some parts that felt a little unnecessary. For example, one scene with Biggie and Lil’ Kim having a moment. I am sure it wasn’t meant to turn anybody on, but still, it was kind of disturbing. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Lil’ Kim was portrayed by Naturi Naughton, who was a member of the girl group 3LW (3 Little Women) back in the early-2000s. I just thought that was an interesting casting choice. I wonder if she did her own rapping in those scenes.

Overall, I would call this film average, if better than average. Despite some clichés and some cheesy performances, I did like the concert scenes and the studio scenes. The film had a good soundtrack by The Notorious B.I.G. himself. I mean if the movie was about him, would you expect anything else? I would say I didn’t mind it, if liked it enough, but I didn’t love it.

3.25/5

Re-review – “All Eyez on Me” (2017 film)

Release Date: June 16, 2017

Production Companies: Summit Entertainment (In association with Lionsgate Films)/Morgan Creek Productions/Program Pictures/Codeblack Films

For my original review on this film, click here.

I knew it would come to this. After doing my series on Tupac’s films, there was this itch that made me do this… again.

I’ll be blunt – I was not a fan of this movie when I saw it in theaters in 2017. I know a lot of people didn’t like the film, and there are some people who did like it. That’s fine and all, but I wasn’t one of those people who liked it. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any redeeming factors to it, though. However, for the most part, there were a lot of issues with this film.

When discussing biopics of films, more often than not, there may be some inaccuracies to the story. There are also some factors that may have been omitted from the film because really, at the end of the day, they are films, not documentaries. I could say that there were inaccuracies in 2009’s “Notorious” and in 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton.” It’s been years since I have watched those two, though, so I may need to revisit them (and maybe cover them).

When I had heard that a Tupac biopic was in development back in 2016, I was not surprised. It was a given that a film on him would be made. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done to ride on the coattails of “Straight Outta Compton” because of how successful that film was. Really, for someone who lived a short life, he has quite a life story. You could talk about his upbringing, his acting career, his music career, his run-ins with the law, and the impact he made (even before he died). This film tried to do all of that but it fell flat on many levels.

Because the negatives outweigh the positives, I will talk about the negatives first.

The narrative tried to cover all sorts of aspects of Pac’s life, whether it was his upbringing with his mother, Afeni, who was a Black Panther, to taking acting classes, his friendship with Jada Pinkett, his time with Digital Underground, etc. I could go on about everything this film tried to do. Many of the scenes felt like clips of certain aspects and then moved onto the next aspect. For example, you had the part of the release of “2Pacalypse Now” to Dan Quayle talking about Pac to Ayanna Jackson and the rape charge, to getting shot at the New York recording studio. Oh, and it’s important to know that for the majority of the film, it was framed around an interview with an journalist trying to get Pac’s life story, and then came his time in Death Row, which was basically the second half of the film.

Speaking of the stuff with Ayanna Jackson, I found it really weird how in the scene where she and Pac were making out at the club that “Honey Love” by R. Kelly and Public Announcement played in the background. Yes, it was a popular song but knowing what we know now about R. Kelly and the fact that this subplot talked about sexual assault, it’s really weird. Was it intentional? Good question.

Another nitpick I had, and I know I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, was that in a scene where he is performing “Ambitionz az a Ridah” and “Hit ’em Up,” he also performed “Hail Mary.” Okay, being that “Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory” came out not long after his death, he never had the chance to perform any of the songs from that album. In fact, he recorded that album a month before he was killed.

The other problem I had was how the Death Row chapter was handled. Sure, it covered the bases of its unsafe working environment, such as Suge Knight and his fellow Bloods beating down people at the Death Row headquarters to even this dinner scene.

In my last review on this film, I talked about how it all of a sudden felt like a gangster movie with the ominous music played in the background. Now I recall some violent scenes in “Straight Outta Compton,” and I know that some biopics don’t have to cover everything that actually happened, but when I saw this in theaters, I was like “what kind of movie am I watching now?”

Then you have parts where Dr. Dre and Faith Evans were shown. Okay, I know Dre was one of the co-owners of Death Row at that point but he was only scene twice and forgotten about. Faith Evans, however, that was mostly done to not only recreate a photo that she did with Pac and to try to cover more of Pac’s beef with Biggie (who was played by the same guy who played him in “Notorious”) but it was never mentioned again after that.

What was also distracting was that in the climax, and yes, the scene in Las Vegas where…well, you know where I am going with this. Anyway, I will give the producers credit for having the scene shot in Las Vegas but then you have some more up-to-date businesses in the Hershey shop on the strip. I know this because I had visited Vegas more than a month before seeing this film in theaters and the store didn’t open until 2014 while that scene took place in 1996.

Then you have this bit.

As covered in my post about the murder investigation, I noted that there was security footage of the beat down that happened in the casino. While I don’t mind that they recreated that for this scene, what’s distracting is that the security footage is the real deal. That’s right. That footage that you see here is the real footage of what happened that night.

Oh, and when you saw Snoop Dogg on screen, it was clear that the real Snoop dubbed his voice for the fake one. That was so distracting.

I feel like I am repeating myself but the film’s biggest problem is that it tried to cover so many bases but it felt like vignettes of some events and onto the next. If anything, Pac’s story could work as a miniseries. And yes, I am aware of the “Unsolved” series and how that one allegedly covers it better (not to mention that the guy who played Suge Knight returned in that), but I need to find a way to watch it. However, this film felt almost like those biopics produced for VH1, Lifetime, and BET. There are some examples of shoddy biopics done for those networks. Don’t even get me started on the one about Aaliyah. However, I kind of gave “Surviving Compton” a pass as the real Michel’le (pronounced “mee-shell-lay”) had some input on the film and also narrated it. That’s another one I need to revisit.

On the positive side, however, I have to give Demetrius Shipp Jr. some credit for trying to portray Tupac as best as he could. He had the look and I could see that in some scenes when some interviews were recreated, he did what he could to help replicate those scenes. Also, Danai Gurira did a good job at her role as Afeni Shakur. That’s about as far as I could go with the positives on the performances. I also liked the use of some songs on the soundtrack, especially the use of “Blackberry Molasses” but 1990s R&B group called Mista (which had a young Bobby V in the group). From what I had read, it was one of Pac’s favorite songs before he died, so I guess someone wanted to use the song as kind of a tribute.

I know I left some information that was mentioned in my old review but you could read that if you want to. I also forgot to mention that a couple of Outlawz (E.D.I. and Young Noble) were in this movie and they played themselves. They didn’t really do much. They had no lines. They were just there. I don’t even think they were advisers for the film, either.

So where do I stand with this film now that I have revisited it after six years? Well, it’s still not a good movie. I maintain the positives that I stated in 2017 and they still stand. However, I maintain the negatives. My mind has not changed for the better, but it has changed for the worse, though. I feel like maybe a Tupac movie can work if someone really does his story justice. Maybe not a movie but rather a series. If there is “Unsolved,” which I heard works, then a movie centered on his life can work. Hell, I think it’s time for me to check out that Wu-Tang series.

1.75/5

Movie Review – “Gang Related”

Release Date: October 8, 1997

Production Companies: Orion Pictures

It has come to this. I had covered all of Tupac’s other films, such as “Juice,” “Poetic Justice,” “Above the Rim,” “Bullet,” and “Gridlock’d.” So this had been quite a project for me. What separates this film from the others was that this was the first time I had watched it. That’s right. I had seen the other ones before, though “Bullet” and “Gridlock’d” had been once before and the first-time viewings were a long time ago. This one, however, I remember hearing about it. I had my chances but never got around to it. But with me doing this series of cover Tupac’s films, I had to watch it eventually.

Now that I have seen it, where do I stand with it?

Going into it, I had a feeling what I was getting myself into. While I hadn’t actually seen this movie before, I had read the plot synopsis and read that it was a crime drama about dirty cops covering up a murder. The plot involves detectives Divinci (James Belushi) and Rodriguez (Tupac Shakur) killing a drug dealer early in the film, only to find out he was an undercover DEA agent. The two crooked cops had to come up with the perfect alibi to cover up the murder. So they try to find some people to pin the rap on and also turn to a stripper named Cynthia (Lela Rochon), whom Divinci had an affair with, to help them out on this cover-up.

A lot of the movie has the plan fall apart as expected, but just how things fell apart kept me engaged. I had a feeling that Rodriguez, while dirty, was more sensible and wanted no part of the plan after a while. While I have seen plot elements like this before, I think they were executed well.

Belushi impressed me with his performance. His career has had its ups and downs, whether it was doing some unfunny comedies (I have seen some to which I can make an exception, however) and some serious films here and there. I do recall finding the 1988 film “Red Heat” with Arnold Schwarzenegger to be underrated and he did fine as the comedic cop as some comedic elements were more subtle than overt. In this film, however, he gave a chilling performance. His portrayal was rather terrifying as the film progressed.

While Tupac was one of the leads, I can’t say he was the focus for the most part. While he did fine in the role, there was not a lot of focus on his character. Most of the film’s plot focused on Divinci as it showed he was cheating on his wife and was also the one behind the plan. We didn’t know much about Rodriguez. Not to say Pac didn’t do well because these scenes showed that he had range. In fact, when you look at the two films that came out after his death, he didn’t play street thugs (“Poetic Justice” could be argued as he wasn’t a thug in that film), so he showed he had enough range to branch in some roles. Here are some examples:

One thing I will say about these scenes, and another that came after this one, is that it’s hard to watch when you know how he was killed. As a matter of fact, this movie was filmed in the summer of 1996. It wrapped up in August and then not long after that in September, he was murdered. It’s uncomfortable to see.

Another thing I should mention is that when I saw the opening credits, I noticed Dennis Quaid was listed. It took me a bit to finally figure out who he was in this movie. It was not until an interrogation scene that I had to look closely. Being that he portrayed a hobo, I could see how he was made up to look that way with the long hair and beard but then came when he had a haircut and shave.

I was at the edge of my seat for most of the film but the gripe I had was with the ending. I felt like not only it was rushed when filming but also had some rewrites. Another thing that I found confusing was that one prominent character was seen at the end all cleaned up and working again. This was supposed to be four months later. I don’t think that is enough time to get some skills back after being homeless and having mental issues. It would take more time to relearn such skills and a lot more time before one is ready to work again. Then you have the sudden ending. Maybe I should read the script to see how things went.

I would have to say that this is an underrated crime drama. The performances were done well. It had a good script for the most part and the overall tone didn’t feel too bleak. As for this being Tupac’s last film, because of his untimely demise, no one can know for certain where his career would have gone. There were rumors that he wanted to do a “Star Wars” film considering the first prequel was in development in the mid-1990s. There has been speculation that he was considered to play Mace Windu but then I had read that the original concept for that character was different. Like I had said before, this film and “Gridlock’d” were good examples of him branching out into different roles. While he was a dirty cop here, I wonder if he would have played a good cop at some point. No one will ever know.

Where do I stand with all of these films? Having watched six of his films for my series of reviews, I have to say that Tupac Shakur was indeed a talented man. I will admit that while I do like his music, I was never one of those fans who act like he is the single greatest rapper of all time and anyone who disagrees is wrong. I do admit that he left a mark on the hip-hop industry and there is a reason he is still talked about to this day. As for him as an actor, he was one of the better examples of rapper-turned-actors, though you could also say he was a rapper-actor who excelled at both. Yes, his more common roles were as street thugs when you look at “Juice,” “Above the Rim,” and “Bullet.” The other three films showed he had some range to do other types of roles. Yes, while I mentioned that “Poetic Justice” was debatable, he wasn’t a thug in that film. He was a mailman and for the majority of the film, Lucky was just someone who wanted to make a career in music. There was some depth to him that showed he wasn’t a one-dimensional character. Being that he had done six films, half of them he portrayed a thug and the other half were different roles. When you look at other rappers turned actors, whether it’s the likes of Ice-T, Ice Cube, DMX, etc., a lot of the time they played thugs but then there were times when they played different kinds of roles. The difference, however, was that Pac had an acting background prior to becoming a rapper. With “Juice” being his first film, the promotion for the film didn’t say anything like “starring popular rapper Tupac Shakur” or anything like that. If anything, “2Pacalypse Now” was released mere months before “Juice” was released. Plus, he wasn’t on the soundtrack to promote his music, either. So I think if he had lived, it’s possible he could have done more in acting.

That’s it for the series of Tupac films, but there is a side of me that may want to revisit something. Something I was not a fan of but I have the itch, even though I thought it was not a great biopic. I may get to that soon.

Movie Review – “Gridlock’d” (1997)

Release Date: January 29, 1997

Production Companies: Polygram Filmed Entertainment/Interscope Communications

Over the years, I had done done some research on the career of Tupac. When I was a kid, I remember seeing that he had new albums being released after his death. I had read that he had recorded a lot of music prior to his murder, which explained that he had multiple albums coming out. But back in 1997, I recall he had two movies come out (three if you count “Bullet,” but that was filmed a couple of years prior and was shelved for those two years before its release). While I am aware that the films were shot prior to it, I also learned he had quite the work ethic at that time. He not only recorded a lot of music but also filmed multiple music videos, some of which were alternate versions of some songs, and also filmed a couple of movies.

Many people close to him have said interviews, like Outlawz members and other fellow rappers like Bad Azz (RIP), that he knew he wasn’t long for this world. With that said, I am going to talk about this film, “Gridlock’d.”

I recall seeing TV spots for it and hearing about it on Entertainment Tonight sometime in late 1996. It was released in early 1997 and while it wasn’t exactly a hit, it had some positive feedback. Personally, I didn’t watch this movie until years later, like maybe it was the early-2000s when I rented it from Hollywood Video (man, I just feel old referencing that). I think it was just that one time I had watched it but I recall seeing bits and pieces of it on Showtime here and there. I recall enjoying it but aside from some scenes, I had very little recollection of the film itself.

So the story goes like this. Spoon (Tupac) and Stretch (Tim Roth), along with a friend of theirs (and sometimes lover) Cookie (Thandie Newton) come home from a party with a bunch of drugs and alcohol. The trio are a jazz/poetry band and also drug addicts, by the way. Cookie ends up overdosing and taken to a hospital and it gives Spoon a sign that he and Stretch should kick the habit. Throughout the film, the duo try to find clinics so they could detox, but along the way, they come across a crime boss named D-Reper, (Vondie Curtis-Hall, who also wrote and directed this film).

Because this movie is a crime comedy-drama, there are a lot of comedic elements to it but it wasn’t overt that it needed to be over-the-top or goofy. Granted, comedies come in different shapes and sizes. Some are goofy, some are subtle, I could go on. With that said, aside from “Nothing But Trouble,” this may probably have been the only comedy that Tupac was in where he was the lead. I think he did fine in this role as a drug addict trying to clean himself up. He and Tim Roth had good chemistry in this film. The two worked well with another. Also, with this being a comedy, while some situations they were in were serious enough, there were some bits that made things less serious. It’s really hard to describe, but when some scenes have a quick zoom closing on one character before another cut or when a character tries to reach the two leads and the camera zooms out and goes through a window while you see the two leads in the foreground and the other character in the background talking on the phone. Being that this was Vondie Curtis-Hall’s directorial debut, I can see he implemented some style into his direction. Now that I think about it, he had directed “Glitter” and “Waist Deep.” I had never seen the former (but I had heard a lot of negativity surrounding it) but I had seen the latter though it’s been a while. I may have to see that one again and probably cover that one, too.

I felt that this was an underrated film. It didn’t do too well when it came out. Being that Tupac’s death helped with album sales, you would have thought that this film would have done better. Then again, despite seeing some ads for it way back when, I don’t recall there was a lot of promotion for it. It was released by Gramercy Films, which was connected to Polygram and they weren’t that high on the top film distributers. I know that Gramercy and Polygram were later acquired by Universal, but even there has not been any more up-to-date DVD releases of this one. The DVD I watched this had non-anamorphic widescreen, which meant I had to adjust the screen to help the picture fit. It’s better that seeing the screen dead center between the black lines from top to bottom and left to right.

But still, it’s an entertaining film.

Movie Review: “Exit Wounds”

Release Date: March 16, 2001

Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures/NPV Entertainment/Silver Pictures

Review on “Romeo Must Die”

Here I am in Part II of my series of reviews related to what I like to think of as “The Hip-Hop Martial Arts Trilogy of the early-2000s.” While I am aware that there are other action movies from this era that had rappers in them (one of which I will mention later), I always have associated the likes of “Romeo Must Die,” “Exit Wounds,” and “Cradle 2 the Grave” together because of a number of reasons, ranging from the hip-hop and martial arts theme to the same director to the recurring actors in these films. On top of that, they were all done by the same production companies. Oh, and while this isn’t really that important, but they were all released during the same time-frames in their respective years of release.

Coincidence? I think not!

So with all this being said, I can say that when I was about 14, I saw a TV spot for this and for some reason, I had immediately thought of “Romeo Must Die.” Similar styles, DMX (RIP) returned, except this time he is one of the lead actors and had a prominent role in this film. Oh, and Steven Seagal was also in this film as he is the central lead in this.

I know over the years, Steven Seagal has become something of a joke, and with good reason. This guy has a negative reputation for a lot of things, whether he is hard to work with, has had bad marriages (among other things related to women). Hell, he refuses to lose in a fight scene in any of his movies. I know people also make fun of his weight but if you stop and think about it, that’s only a small percentage of why he is a joke.

I say this as someone who has genuinely enjoyed some of his films, whether it’s “Above the Law,” “Out for Justice,” “Marked for Death,” both “Under Siege” films, etc. However, when watching a movie of his, all of his fights are one-sided, and let’s not forget how he always sounds like he is whispering when he talks.

I am getting a little ahead of myself. Maybe I should just talk about the film. Oh, and there isn’t much history to it as I had mentioned I had seen TV spots because I didn’t see it in theaters. Instead, I watched it later when I caught it on HBO.

I had found out at some point that this film was an adaptation of a novel of the same name by John Westermann. I am now thinking of giving it a read but I suppose maybe Silver Pictures wanted to an adaptation of the novel (or maybe a script was already written). After all, “Romeo Must Die” was more of an urban take on “Romeo + Juliet,” so I guess maybe it being an adaptation is added to the trend? Perhaps.

So the story goes like this. Orin Boyd (Seagal) is your typical cowboy cop who has more of a body count than an arrest count as he mostly has a reputation for killing criminals than apprehending them. It starts off with him taking the vice president out of harms way in a less-than-ideal fashion, causing him to get moved to another precinct in Detroit where he gets demoted to a uniformed cop who has to guide traffic. However, Boyd notices some shady dealings going on within the precinct, some of which involved a crime boss named Latrell Walker, whom aroused Boyd’s suspicion about a conspiracy occurring.

I am certain this plot was used in the book, but because this is an action film, I noticed typical action tropes here, such as the aforementioned cowboy cop, along with shootouts, hand-to-hand fight sequences, explosions, and car chases. Hey, not that I was complaining. This film delivered a lot on that front. I know I keep mentioning RMD (“Romeo Must Die”), but with this film having a similar style and having the same director at the helm, it’s hard not to compare them. One thing I did notice is that there was some use of wires during some fight scenes. While it didn’t get ridiculous like RMD where it looked like Jet Li could defy gravity, it was in full effect in this fight scene, along with slow motion effects like dodging bullets.

Check out this compilation of fight scenes to see what I mean.

The film also delivered on the chase/driving scenes, as it well as its use of practical effects. I will admit that I chuckled at the sight of a dummy used in one scene but I’ll give it some credit for choosing a practical effect over a CGI effect.

There was also a little more humor in this film compared to RMD. Sure, there was some comic relief, mostly from Anthony Anderson, but because he returned, he provided some comedic scenes, as did Tom Arnold. I never had anything negative to say about Tom Arnold except that he doesn’t have that great of a filmography, but I had always liked him in “True Lies” and in this film, and “Cradle 2 the Grave.” The two had good comedic chemistry at the end of the film. So I found that part entertaining.

Oh, and I must talk about this. Regarding female characters, while no one played a love interest or anything like that, I noticed that there was some teased sexual tension between Seagal and Jill Hennessy, who was in this film, but for the most part, their relationship was treated as mostly professional. So any sort of sexual tension went nowhere after a couple of scenes. Interestingly enough, later that same year she would be on “Crossing Jordan,” which was a successful TV show. Then you have Eva Mendes. I later found out she was dubbed in all the scenes she was in. I know I had seen it multiple times but I never caught it until a few years ago and her voice sounded different. Check this out.

Not sure why this happened, either, but I like how the video also included an interview she did with Jon Stewart where she talked about the dubbing.

Another thing I found odd was that while this film was set in Detroit, Michigan, it was clearly shot in Toronto, Ontario, and no one even tried to hide it. I took a close look at the cars and in some scenes, no license plates were present, except in one where you can barely see a Michigan license plate. But when seeing some other scenes where you see building exteriors, you can see the logos of Canadian businesses. For example, I saw a sign of Pizza Pizza, which is a Canadian pizza chain, as well as a sign for Tim Hortons, which is another Canadian business. I mean, wow, it was only said that it was set in Detroit but it couldn’t have been more obvious that it was Toronto.

I could be biased because of the theme but I have always enjoyed this film. Yes, it’s definitely a product of its time with the hip-hop theme and the post-Matrix style of action, but I have always liked it. I am aware it’s not a good film because there are some parts that are stupid but I can still have fun with it. Plus, I like the soundtrack. Also, this Steven Seagal’s first film that had a theatrical release since 1997’s “Fire Down Below” as he had done a few straight-to-video films up to that point, but it wasn’t long until he had his final theatrical release about a year and two-thirds later (pardon if I got mathematical here) when “Half Past Dead” came out, which I have covered before. Hell, I am under the belief that instead of Ja Rule in that film, it was supposed be DMX, but I had read that he didn’t get along with Seagal on set. Like I have said, the man is notoriously hard to work with.

Man, this was long, wasn’t it? Well, I am not done with this series yet. Next up is “Cradle 2 the Grave.”

Rap Movie Review – Half Past Dead 2

Year of Release: 2007

Production Companies: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

For my review of the first film, click here.

I often wonder how sequels get green-lighted, even though there is little demand for them or how something can get warranted. I have touched on this in my reviews of The Man With The Iron Fists 2 and also How High 2. Let’s not forget on my review of I Got The Hook Up 2, especially when wondering how long Master P had wanted to get that off the ground. The list goes on, especially when seeing that some movies didn’t do so well enough in theaters, unless it sold a good amount of units in home media. I mean seriously, there are a lot of sequels to Bring It On, as well as a few sequels to Death Race, which I may cover on my movie blog. But in this case, I really wonder if there was a demand for a sequel to Half Past Dead.

I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. Let me tell you how I first discovered that there was a sequel to it. I remember going to Walmart and noticing on one of the DVD racks that there was a copy of Half Past Dead 2. When I saw it, I was like “Huh?” This was in the late-2000s, by the way. I think it was 2008 when this happened. Then I saw who was on the cover. It was none other than Bill Goldberg and also Kurupt. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to think. Now I didn’t watch the first movie until early 2017, when I went through a Steven Seagal kick. I will note that I was familiar with it, as well as knew that Kurupt was also in it. But when I saw Bill Goldberg on it, I didn’t know what to say.

Some of you may have probably figured out by now that I am a fan of professional wrestling. I have made some references here and there in past reviews and stuff. However, I am also aware that Bill Goldberg had starred in some films like Santa’s Slay and stuff. I heard that it was bad, but being that I actually enjoy watching “bad” movies sometimes, I think I might give it a go sometime. So I wasn’t sure what to say. Then when I saw Kurupt on the cover, it made me see that he was possibly one of the only returning actors from the previous film to appear (Let me remind you that I really mean “one of” in this case, as I will get to that).

Which brings me the topic at hand. So basically the story is that Twitch (Kurupt’s character) gets transferred from New Alcatraz, the prison from the first film, to another prison somewhere in Missouri. It turns out that his girlfriend Cherise (played by Angell Conwell) lives there, but there is more to it than that. Immediately he becomes acquainted with one of the prison gangs, as well as gets antagonized by another prison gang, led by the main antagonist Cortez. Then he cross paths with Burke (Goldberg’s character), a loner who doesn’t like associating with people, but has love for his daughter Ellie (played by Alona Tal). But then trouble arises when a riot erupts in the prison, leaving Cherise and Ellie trapped when it goes into lockdown. Problems escalate from there.

Which now brings me to how this is linked to the previous film, especially when more often than not, straight-to-video sequels are only “sequels in name only,” although that could be a factor in this film as aside from returning characters, the title doesn’t really relate to the plot. Basically, Twitch gets promoted from a supporting character to one of the leads and the only other character who returned was El Fuego, played by Tony Plana, who was the warden from the first film, and was only featured in two scenes in this film. I also must note that there were some story elements, as well as passing references that somehow needed to be told in order to link the two films together, but even in some ways it felt like there had be rewrites to the script. Not to mention some continuity errors here and there. The same could be said about the lighting used for some action scenes.

Also, I really wonder if Steven Seagal was even approached to even star in this at all. At this point, he was already doing a bunch of straight-to-video movies, but I guess with his large ego, he probably thought he was too good for this. I mean, seriously, you know that there is a problem when your comic relief side character somehow gets promoted to main character in the sequel.

I know it sounds like I didn’t enjoy the film. This is the real kicker. I didn’t dislike the movie at all. Yes, it does have its issues and all, but I found it to be somewhat of time-waster that you could just watch if you have nothing else going on. I enjoyed the movie okay. I wouldn’t call it good, and it would be wrong if I said that I loved it. It was really more average, maybe even halfway decent at best. I will note that I liked some of the songs on the soundtrack. Kurupt even provided a couple of songs of his in this film, one of which was a Dogg Pound song, even though it was his verse that was heard. It was still entertaining despite all of its issues.

This movie was definitely an example of an unnecessary sequel. I guess that was why it was straight-to-video. I mean, seriously, a couple of years prior, Steven Seagal was in a movie with Treach from Naughty By Nature. Speaking of Treach, I wonder if I should cover Art of War III as well. I may do Love and a Bullet one day. But also in reference to Seagal, I will get to my long overdue write-up of Exit Wounds, but that will be for a marathon that will include Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 The Grave. I like to think of those three as a trilogy. But overall, if you were to watch this, don’t expect too much and you might enjoy it. It may be overridden with cliches, but a lot of films are. I mean the first film wasn’t great either, but it was still entertaining.

2.5/5

Rap Movie Review – How High 2

Year of Release: 2019

Production Companies: Universal 1440 Entertainment/MTV/Smith-Garr Productions

For my review on the first film, click here.

Like I had noted in my review of The Man with the Iron Fists 2, straight-to-video sequels (or TV, for that matter) are far from a novel concept. What’s funny (as in strange) is that I have seen my share of some, whether they follow a story or are simply rehash of a predecessor, or even just a film with the name slapped on it to draw viewers. I have noted that there are some that I enjoy. There are also some that I didn’t enjoy, like this film that I am about to cover here.

Let me just make one thing clear here. Comedy is definitely a subjective taste, as well as a hard thing to write and produce. Add to the fact that there are different forms of comedy out there. Whether you’re talking about slapstick, dark, romantic, and sometimes even dumb/silly comedy, which doesn’t always mean that it’s unfunny. Really, dumb/stupid comedy can sometimes have its charm because while the comedy may be a bit over the top, some of the time the humor can actually draw some laughs, as well as what could work is chemistry among the leads. Stoner favorites such as the first film, Half-Baked, Friday, and of course, the Cheech & Chong films (particularly Up in Smoke) have their charm because of the chemistry of the leads and good writing.

This film, How High 2, while it had its moments in some areas (I’ll admit that I chuckled a tad at times), it was just downright bad. There, I said it. But how bad was it? Before I get into my review, let me talk about some background info that some of you may need to know.

For starters, one of the main things is that for years, a sequel with Method Man and Redman was considered. In fact, it had been considered since the late-2000s, right around the time Red and Meth were recording Blackout 2. However, Universal didn’t want to fund the movie, according the IMDB tribune. In late 2015, Redman had stated that Danny DeVito signed him and Method Man back onto the film and a script was being written. In early 2017, the script had been rewritten because Red and Meth didn’t like the earlier drafts. They had hoped that the film would start shooting in late 2017 to early 2018. Even around that time, Redman had stated that the script had been rewritten once again, as he had also said that he and Method Man would not return if the script was not funny. Then the script was rewritten yet again in mid-2018 and Universal 1440 teamed with MTV.

At that point, in September 2018, both Method Man and Redman were unaware that Universal went ahead with the production of How High 2 and that they didn’t bother to contact them until the beginning of production. When they got contacted, they declined after production began with Lil’ Yachty and DC Young Fly. So in other words, Universal went ahead and started production on it without their knowledge. Also, it had been said that Meth and Red were supposed to reprise their roles and Yachty was supposed to be Method Man’s character’s younger brother.

So what does this say about the film? Now I’m getting to that, and note, this will contain spoilers.

This film starts off with Roger, played by Lil’ Yachty, working the night shift at a fast food restaurant and then comes across a couple of rich girls, whom he smokes weed with, only to be robbed by them. Then we are introduced to his cousin Calvin, played by DC Young Fly, who I believe was an Uber driver or something of that nature. He was getting high with a co-worker. The two cousins live in Roger’s mother’s basement. Then suddenly, they come across “The Weed Bible,” which not only introduces them to some powerful weed, but also they encounter Baby Powder (Mike Epps) and his sidekick, played by Teresa Topnotch and she is only credited as “Sidekick.” I kid you not, and yes, Mike Epps reprised his role as Baby Powder from the first film (I will get to another appearance, just wait, as well as some sad attempts to link the two films), but this time he wasn’t a pimp who was trying to get his hookers back. No, this time he played a spiritual figure whom only Roger and Calvin see, almost like a ghost or spirit to give them advice. I really did not understand what they did with this character. I really didn’t, especially when his character was just a pimp who slapped people in the face with baby powder (which he also did in this film, and that’s not even the first sad attempt at trying to link the films!). So Roger and Calvin try to sell the weed, only to find that it went missing and then they go around Atlanta to search for it.

Okay, I’m not sure what this movie was trying to be. I have to hand it to the writers for not making this a complete rehash of the first film’s plot, but in a lot of ways, I saw a lot of elements from Half-Baked, Pineapple Express, as well as a reference to one of my all-time favorite films, Back to the Future.

So what exactly was wrong with this film? This film was also full of cliches that you have seen before. For example, an illicit video coming up when trying to expose someone, a typical inspirational sequence by telling the lead that it was all him and not something that got him far, etc. Okay, I will admit that one bit involving the embarrassing video got a chuckle out of me, as well as some sequences with DeRay Davis, but that was about it. But then there’s the typical “marijuana is like LSD” trope that’s been played out for years. Weed is not that powerful. I mean, sure, a joke like that was done in Half-Baked, but it was justified in the plot as the weed that was being used was supposed be “the good shit,” if you know what I mean.

Another thing that was bad was that there was a forced romantic subplot involving Roger and Alicia, who I believe was an old school crush or girlfriend. It was obvious that she and Roger would end up together, but then she finds herself involved in the plot. Okay, I could hand it to the actress playing the girl as she was trying. But then there were bits in the plot with Roger somehow revealing to her that he sort of lied about some stuff. But you know what, it didn’t matter to her. Duh! Plus, I couldn’t buy those two as an item, and why she would even choose him, especially with a guy with that kind of hair.

As for the sad attempts at trying to link the two films, only one other actor from the first film appeared and that was Al Shearer, who played I Need Money (Yes, that was his name). He appeared in this film as I Got Money. I am not even sure if they were supposed to be the same character (Seriously, same actor, but the difference between “need” and “got” could only mean that the guy had improved himself), but don’t even get me started on the forced bit involving his teeth being shown (Yes, that was done in this movie, too). Also, another sad attempt was taking a puff and seeing the ghost of someone. *sigh* WHY?! At least in the first film, the reason for that was because the dead guy’s ashes were mixed with the marijuana seeds and it was what caused the character of Ivory to come back as a ghost. So it made more sense as it was explained in the plot.

Okay, regarding performances, I had already talked about the love interest, but regarding the leads, I had a hard time trying to take Yachty seriously as the straight man of the group. DC Young Fly, on the other hand, well, I am not familiar with his comedy, but it felt like he was trying to be like Chris Tucker or Kevin Hart. He tried too hard. I mean I am not going to crap on these two because I can see that they were trying, but with what they worked with, it just didn’t work for me.

In a lot of ways, Method Man and Redman had dodged a major bullet by not appearing in this movie. I love that movie. I remember seeing it in theaters when it came out. It was definitely a film that holds up now, even if it’s almost 20 years old. This film, on the other hand, when you have it debut on MTV, that really says a lot about it. I found it on Netflix, so I had to see it for myself. I didn’t even go in with high (no pun intended) expectations. Like I had noted, it had a few moments, particularly with DeRay Davis and another bit, but overall, this was just bad. I mean BAD.

Then again, I still wonder about I Got the Hook-Up 2, and yes, that movie does exist. I will cover that one when I see it, even though I need to cover some of the other No Limit films (Including the first I Got the Hook-Up, which I haven’t seen in so long).

Rating: 1/5

Movie Review – Caught Up

Year of Release: 1998

Production Companies: LIVE Entertainment/Artisan Entertainment (Later acquired by Lionsgate)

I’m back and I will try to update this more and I have also been contemplating starting my movie blog, which I will link to this one at some point. Also, it’s December, so I may post some Christmas-related stuff soon.

Like in many other reviews that I have done, I give a little personal history lesson and this will be no exception, because this film is something that I never thought that I would revisit. For starters, I actually remember seeing TV spots of this film on BET and/or MTV in early 1998. This was definitely a film that I sense didn’t do so well at the box office as sources had stated that it only made $6.754 million overall. There really wasn’t a lot of advertisement for it, though I remember seeing ads for the soundtrack around that same time, which I also plan to cover.

The other thing is this: In my Hot Boyz review, I had noted that I initially had this movie as part of a 4-pack of movies that I bought for $5 at Walmart way back when. I later sold it, especially considering my feelings towards Hot Boyz (Though I may cover Phat Beach soon, as well as Foolish if I get my hands on it or find a way to watch it). However, this film somehow came crawling back, as I wasn’t fond of it when I first saw it.

What happened was that a local new/used bookstore, which also carried DVDs, in my area was closing sometime recently. It was on its last few days, so I went in and bought a lot of movies. When I saw that this was one of them (As well as another I wasn’t a big fan of), I went ahead and bought them considering the deal I would be getting. I mean what was the harm, right?

Then came an itch of me wanting to give it a re-watch recently, probably because I was listening to the soundtrack. For some reason I had the temptation to watch it. I mean I know I didn’t like it, but then I thought about covering it for this website. As said before, what was the harm?

So I gave it a re-watch and now here comes my take on it. Oh, and how this film relates to it being hip-hop, I will get to that.

Okay, so the movie surrounds Daryl Allen, played by Bokeem Woodbine, a man who just got out of jail after a five-year stretch for being linked to a robbery that his troublemaker friend got him involved in. Before he went through all of that, it hadn’t been long since Daryl’s initial release. That’s right, he went back to jail not long after getting released. It wasn’t like he planned on being involved in the robbery. After his release, he meets a woman named Vanessa, played by Cynda Williams, who looks dead-on like Daryl’s ex-girlfriend Trish (They were played by the same actress). Vanessa turns about to be a tarot reader and foresees Daryl’s future, which shows him getting caught up in some stuff. Hence the title of this film.

Right when you put this on, it’s obvious that this film was shot on a low-budget. Even for late-1990s standards, this film has the feel of a low-budget film, especially with the production company behind it. LIVE/Artisan Entertainment weren’t known for putting out films with a high budget. In fact, I think one of their highest budgeted movies that they released was Ringmaster, that Jerry Springer film (In some ways, I would watch it for shear curiosity, as I have a thing about watching “bad” movies), as it was only shot for $20 million.

Back to this film, what was shown about its budget were the effects and the fact that there were no name actors in this film. Sure, Bokeem Woodbine might have been among the better-known actors, as in recent memory he was in Spider-Man: Homecoming. But if I were to guess, this film was probably among the very few, if only lead roles he has had. Sure, he had billing in The Big Hit, which came out that same year, but that was among the likes of Mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips. As for his performance, I think he did a decent job, especially at displaying emotion during certain sequences. Cynda Williams did a good job in her role, even though her role as Trish only came during so few sequences but all of the dialogue was done for the Vanessa character. Plus, I never complain seeing Clifton Powell on screen, as he did a good job with his character.

The problem with this film was that so many things went on that it was hard to keep track what the plot really was. Sure, Daryl wanted to go straight but then got caught up in some mess. One story element had him get chased by some guy trying to shoot him. It was mostly forgotten about until the every end and when you see what it really was about, it was mostly a revenge thing with a character you knew so little about from the start. But regarding anything else, I wouldn’t have expected some twists to occur, which I have to hand to the writers for coming up with that.

Also, Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J had cameos in this movie. While Snoop was just in a scene with Daryl driving him around, LL’s cameo had relevance to the plot. Plus, both guys were listed in the credits as special appearances, so they weren’t just walk-on roles.

One thing that got me was the camera-work and editing in some scenes. For example, during the film’s love scene, I found it funny how the camera circled around the two actors, while some sequences faded into other shots. It definitely had the feel of something that came out during that time.

All I can say is that I wouldn’t call this film good, but it grew on me a little bit since the last time I saw it. While the film does have its problems, it’s not as bad as I remember it. Some parts got me laughing a bit for the wrong reasons. I was also entertained more this time around. Also, I liked Basil Wallace in this film as Ahmad, one of the film’s antagonists. He also reminded me of the character he played in that Steven Seagal film, Marked For Death. This was one of those moments where the film got better on repeated viewings. What amazed me is how it went to theaters, but it probably didn’t take long until it was pulled. It’s one of those films that you would probably watch if you have nothing to do, like during the days when local channels would show movies on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, or even when USA used to show movies at 1 or 2 in the morning. You could do better, but you could do a lot worse, too.

Rating: 3/5

Rap Movie Review – Half Past Dead

Year of Release: 2002

Film Studio: Sony Pictures/Screen Gems/Franchise Pictures

I have not really been keeping up with this lately, but because I have plans to write about the Murder Inc compilations in February, I figured that this would be a good place to start. It is not just because Ja Rule is in this film, and also Kurupt, but also because there is a good amount of songs from The Inc on the soundtrack, and also other stuff from non-Murder Inc performers.

I will add that I have also been on a Steven Seagal kick lately, probably thanks to a YouTuber who I follow named Ramboraph4life as not too long ago he had done a Seagal marathon where he reviewed and ranted on films that he starred in. I still have Exit Wounds to do, and I will cover that one in the near future along with its soundtrack, but that will be for my Andrzej Bartowiak’s martial arts hip-hop trilogy marathon which also consists of Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 The Grave, along with the soundtracks to those films.

Anyway, I am here to talk about Half Past Dead, the last movie that Steven Seagal starred in that was given a theatrical release, which also has Ja Rule in a starring role. This movie came out nearly two years after Exit Wounds, which was a surprise hit and that was also another movie that Seagal had done with a rapper, who was DMX. For many years I had heard that this film was the last straw for Steven Seagal as a leading man in theatrical movies because afterwards he had starred in a slew of direct-to-video films. I think another reason was that this film was a critical and box office flop. A lot of people disliked the film and it did not make a lot of money. Of course, I decided to see it for myself.

Some of my synopsis may contain spoilers.

The film’s story in a nutshell is about this undercover FBI who is infiltrating a prison because a criminal plotted to interrogate a prisoner about stolen gold and where to find it. The film’s title has to do with how Seagal’s character was declared dead at the beginning of the film, only to be revived. Seagal played Sasha, the FBI agent who was undercover in a criminal operation with his friend, Nicholas, played Ja Rule. Of course, Ja’s character did not know that he was undercover at first. The opening sequence was more of a prologue as Sasha was shot and the main plot takes place eight months after those events. The villain, who is called 49er One (don’t ask), played by Morris Chestnut, leads a team of criminals, also codenamed 49ers with a number after that. For example, the second-in-command, played by Nia Peeples, is named 49er Six. My only guess is because the film took place on Alcatraz and being that they are after gold, it is rather clear as to why they are named that. In some ways this feels like The Rock, with Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, but with elements from The Matrix thrown in.

In regards to whether this film was bad is entirely subjective, but I personally didn’t mind it. Would I call it good? No, but there was some fun to be had. The thing that really got me were the acting from parts of the cast. I can’t really say much about Seagal’s acting considering how he has admitted that he is not much of an actor and how in a lot of movies he basically plays the same type of character, or is he playing himself? I can never tell. Ja didn’t do a bad job in his role but I have not seen enough roles of his to really say if he is playing himself. I know he was in a movie with Pras (From The Fugees) called Turn It Up, but I have never seen it. He was only in The Fast and The Furious for a few minutes and the only other film that I have seen with him was The Cookout, but that was a long time ago and I mostly remember that being a cheesy comedy. As for Morris Chestnut, his performance as the villain felt like he went through the motions. I couldn’t buy him as a bad guy. I felt that he was more convincing as a criminal-type in the movie Confidence, which came out sometime after this one. He didn’t really convince as a bad guy in this film and he is usually such a good actor. Nia Peeples didn’t have much to work with except be the femme fatale who wore tight leather and did martial arts. Also she reminded me too much of Trinity from The Matrix in this. She even wore a trenchcoat in some fight scenes.

As for others, Kurupt basically played the comic relief in this film. He was actually pretty funny in some scenes, one of which included comedienne, Mo’Nique. I can’t say he acted much before this except for one small scene in The Wash, but that was it.

As for action scenes, this movie was chock full of explosions and pyrotechnics that I think it would make Michael Bay blush. The film was already over-the-top, but it just felt like firework show in some sequences. There was a lot of ridiculousness in some other sequences like one that had Seagal and Ja driving a car and Ja totally flew out of a car or when Kurupt fired a rocket launcher and was sent flying. Those scenes got a laugh out of me for the absurdity in both scenes. Not to mention when a gun got caught in an elevator door and Seagal flipped it over to have it point at the bad guys. Also, I could not help but laugh during the climax when two guys jump from a balcony and start firing their guns. I mean, come on, how could the bullets not hit the other guy who jumped as well?

Of course, I can’t complain about the fight scenes, even though some involved doubles for some people. Although Peeples’ character was a total knock-off of Trinity, she impressed me a bit in her fight scenes. I can’t say that I am surprised because she had done a lot of fight scenes when she was in Walker, Texas Ranger.

Acting and action scenes aside, the complaint I had for the most part were some songs from the soundtrack. I wonder if this movie was edited and initially supposed to be rated R. This was PG-13, and I believe it is Steven Seagal’s only PG-13 film. The reason for my complaint is that a lot of the songs were edited. This film came out around the same time as the compilation, “Irv Gotti Presents The Inc” and a number of songs from that compilation appeared on the soundtrack. The film started with “Gangstafied” from a few Murder Inc artists (Including Ja) and it was distracting to hear parts of the lyrics censored. The same can be said about the use of “I’ma Bang” from DMX. It was just weird to hear it censored when it said “Do My Motherfucking Thing.” If the movie was rated R, the lyrics would all be intact.

I also must add that the song in the credits, “The Pledge (Remix)” contained clips from this film in the music video for it.

End spoilers.

Half Past Dead is more flash than substance, however, the film is still fun to watch for some reason. I don’t think this is a good film, but it is entertaining in some areas. I found myself laughing with and at some scenes, especially at a little Sony product placement with an inmate playing PS2 in a cell. The film also didn’t take itself seriously which was one reason that I had fun with it. I also must add that there is a direct-to-video sequel that stars Bill Goldberg and from what I understand, Kurupt reprised his role in that film. I might watch that and review it one day because judging from the DVD artwork it appears that Kurupt has a bigger role in that one than in this one. I am also curious about Bill Goldberg’s performance being that I am mostly used to seeing him in his wrestling persona. I’ll check it out one day.