I remember when this movie came out, it was universally panned across the board. "50 Cent can't act," "The script is terrible," "The dialogue sounds like it was written by a third grader," "What's so special about 50 Cent that he needs his own movie?" I stayed away from it for years, but then I happened to watch my first Jim Sheridan movie recently, "The Boxer." It was well-acted, well-crafted, the tone was consistent and dark throughout the movie, while illuminating the viewer into a world that he or she may never have seen before, all while putting well-rounded characters through the ringer. This plus universally positive reviews of every Jim Sheridan movie except this one, made me wonder if IMDb users (statistically mostly white teenagers) weren't just hating on this movie out of typical cultural bias. If you run down the list, after all, most every "urban" film, regardless of quality, gets a pretty low rating on this website. Sometime it's deserved. But sometimes it isn't.
"Get Rich or Die Trying'" isn't a terrible film, and is far better than the current 4.1 rating it currently holds, which would put it on par with Uwe Boll movies and any post-Oscar Nicolas Cage movie. While it isn't Citizen Kane, it's better than all of those, a well-crafted drama that could be enjoyed by anyone, whether or not they enjoy rap music.
Can 50 Cent act? He's not terrible. At no time does he look like he's reciting lines, and his natural charisma plus Jim Sheridan's direction makes for a passable performance. He's not better or worse than, say, Mark Wahlberg, who has a similarly limited range, but has utilized it to great effect.
Is the script terrible? No. It gets clichéd in parts (the beginning of the first flashback is the most over-used cliché in movies like this, and was parodied over a decade ago in "Don't Be a Menace..."), but overall tells a tight, fleshed-out story that wavers only periodically between poetry and cheese. 90% of the time, it walks the line between the two and does a credible job. Every character is well-drawn with their motivations clear, with the notable exceptions of Charlene and Bama. The script makes no effort to show who they are or why they act the way they do, and while the actors work to show depth to what's on the page, ultimately it is a large flaw in the film-- but this is no better or worse than any other Hollywood film, that fails to give dimension to even one female character.
Is 50 Cent worthy of his own movie? Look. He's not Elvis. He's not the Beatles, or Johnny Cash, or NWA, or Jay-Z. His music is middling at best and even in 2011 he's still a one-hit wonder. So if 50 Cent isn't as towering in the music game as all these others, the question we must then ask is: Is his story worthy of being told, if Marcus were played by someone other than Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson? The dude was shot five times and lived. His mother died on the streets. He made it out, and made enough of an impression to get a movie like this one made. Even if you don't like his music, it's a story we don't often see, and one worthy of being told... not unlike 'The Boxer.' There's a moment early on, in the first scene, where our main characters are riding to a robbery, and 50 Cent is playing on the soundtrack. We catch Marcus himself lip-syncing to the radio... in essence, lip-syncing to HIMSELF. I don't think that's a coincidence. The music is Any Music, the time is Any Time. It's a dramatic epic and reflection of a specific time, with painstaking detail used to recreate music, culture, and fashion, of a culture we don't see often given respect on film. Yet despite the specifics, it manages to remain a universal story for any community that has to face this kind of violence, and Jim Sheridan clearly knew this when he signed on.
Upon the films release, teenagers may have been expecting "Scarface," and this wasn't it. Adults may have been expecting a typical urban violence-fest, and stayed away... but the film wasn't that, either.
Ultimately, despite some fantastic camera-work, Sheridan didn't make art on the level of 'The Boxer,' and certainly not on the level of 'My Left Foot,' 'In the Name of the Father,' or 'In America.' But 4.1? It certainly deserves better than THAT. Six years on, and the film is no longer a publicity stunt made solely to peddle CDs... it's just a movie, and a good one.
8/10.
"Get Rich or Die Trying'" isn't a terrible film, and is far better than the current 4.1 rating it currently holds, which would put it on par with Uwe Boll movies and any post-Oscar Nicolas Cage movie. While it isn't Citizen Kane, it's better than all of those, a well-crafted drama that could be enjoyed by anyone, whether or not they enjoy rap music.
Can 50 Cent act? He's not terrible. At no time does he look like he's reciting lines, and his natural charisma plus Jim Sheridan's direction makes for a passable performance. He's not better or worse than, say, Mark Wahlberg, who has a similarly limited range, but has utilized it to great effect.
Is the script terrible? No. It gets clichéd in parts (the beginning of the first flashback is the most over-used cliché in movies like this, and was parodied over a decade ago in "Don't Be a Menace..."), but overall tells a tight, fleshed-out story that wavers only periodically between poetry and cheese. 90% of the time, it walks the line between the two and does a credible job. Every character is well-drawn with their motivations clear, with the notable exceptions of Charlene and Bama. The script makes no effort to show who they are or why they act the way they do, and while the actors work to show depth to what's on the page, ultimately it is a large flaw in the film-- but this is no better or worse than any other Hollywood film, that fails to give dimension to even one female character.
Is 50 Cent worthy of his own movie? Look. He's not Elvis. He's not the Beatles, or Johnny Cash, or NWA, or Jay-Z. His music is middling at best and even in 2011 he's still a one-hit wonder. So if 50 Cent isn't as towering in the music game as all these others, the question we must then ask is: Is his story worthy of being told, if Marcus were played by someone other than Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson? The dude was shot five times and lived. His mother died on the streets. He made it out, and made enough of an impression to get a movie like this one made. Even if you don't like his music, it's a story we don't often see, and one worthy of being told... not unlike 'The Boxer.' There's a moment early on, in the first scene, where our main characters are riding to a robbery, and 50 Cent is playing on the soundtrack. We catch Marcus himself lip-syncing to the radio... in essence, lip-syncing to HIMSELF. I don't think that's a coincidence. The music is Any Music, the time is Any Time. It's a dramatic epic and reflection of a specific time, with painstaking detail used to recreate music, culture, and fashion, of a culture we don't see often given respect on film. Yet despite the specifics, it manages to remain a universal story for any community that has to face this kind of violence, and Jim Sheridan clearly knew this when he signed on.
Upon the films release, teenagers may have been expecting "Scarface," and this wasn't it. Adults may have been expecting a typical urban violence-fest, and stayed away... but the film wasn't that, either.
Ultimately, despite some fantastic camera-work, Sheridan didn't make art on the level of 'The Boxer,' and certainly not on the level of 'My Left Foot,' 'In the Name of the Father,' or 'In America.' But 4.1? It certainly deserves better than THAT. Six years on, and the film is no longer a publicity stunt made solely to peddle CDs... it's just a movie, and a good one.
8/10.