I’m a very outspoken film critic. I make no bones about it. Both in my Hollywood Jesus reviews as well as my secular reviews, I’ve willingly courted controversy by making certain statements and comments. In another commentary written for an African-American film website, I made very controversial, angry, and very un-Christian-like statements about slain rapper/actor Tupac Shakur. I felt the urge to give my 2 cents on his perceived legacy because, at the time, his posthumous biography “Tupac: Resurrection” was prepared to hit theatres.

In my commentary, I stated that I believed that, in spite of the legendary status laid upon him even years after his death, he died like a coward. Why such a strong statement? Because, as I recall his music over the years, I observed him fighting an intense internal struggle between good and evil. The “good” side was demonstrated by his songs of introspection. Songs like “Me Against The World” and “So Many Tears” expressed his anguish at American society and the power structure that left himself and his legion of inner city/ghetto counterparts fighting amongst themselves for the miniscule table scraps left by the so-called American Dream. The “bad” side was expressed by the songs which he willfully accepted and celebrated the negative aspects of inner city/ghetto life. Tupac boldly expressed this attitude by his mantra “Thug Life” – which he also famously tattooed over his chest. To me, his death in Las Vegas was the ultimate manifestation that the “bad” side had won. After all, as I stated in my commentary, he lived like a thug…he died like a thug.

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“You can pray for a miracle and God may be hearing you.”
—from “I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy,” 50 Cent

One of the most over-used lines about hip-hop came from the lips of Public Enemy’s frontman, Chuck D, when he described rap music as the CNN of the streets. The thrust of his point was that if one truly wanted to know what was going on in the hearts of the inner city, all one had to do was listen to the music the inner city produced. Unfortunately, there was profit to be made in what would become known as “gangsta rap,” and soon the music spawned endless imitators, many of questionable talent, bordering on becoming a caricature of itself.

Enter 50 Cent.

Directed by Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot), Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is about coming to a crossroads, seeing two divergent paths in front of you, and choosing the best path for your life. The movie can’t escape the inevitable comparison to Hustle & Flow; too bad for Get Rich or Die Tryin’ that it isn’t as well done. The still-compelling story details the less-than-secret origin of 50 Cent (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), portraying Marcus aka “Young Caesar”: a young man with a drug-dealing mother, who never knew his father, who chooses to sell drugs on the streets, then survive a nine-gunshot-wound attempt on his life to become a multi-million album-selling rap artist. One of the problems with this movie is its own identity crisis, as it couldn’t make up its mind if it wanted to be Scarface/King of New York or 8 Mile.

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Review by
CHRIS UTLEY

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Ecclesiastes 1:9 (New International Version) — “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Cinematically, if you’ve seen Juice, Menace II Society, or any other variant of hip-hop infused crime/gangster movies, then you already know the plot of Get Rich Or Die Tryin. Kid gets abandoned by a parent (in this case, the abandonment was forced due to his mother’s death). The rest of his family ridicules and/or ignores him. Kid turns to street life and drug dealing as a way of escape. Kid becomes man and attracts the eye of the kingpins in charge… and steadily collects his fair share of enemies. Gunshots ensue. Man meets ghetto princess and falls in love. Man gets involved in ill-advised shootout where he eventually ends up in prison. After the requisite prison attack and forced solitary confinement, man gets enlightened and decides that it’s safer to become a rapper than a drug dealer. Man gets out of jail and tells kingpin that he’s pursing his rap career. Kingpin won’t let him off the leash so easily and executes act of revenge. More gunshots ensue. Man sticks to his guns, survives the requisite final confrontation, and lives happily ever after.

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I will not post these comments. I welcome your spiritual concerns and prayer needs.  I will correspond with you, usually within two weeks.
Email David Bruce