50 Cent not 'Tryin' ' hard enough
By Nick Norman
"Get Rich or Die Tryin'Ã " is a fully forgettable film. Its shiny shell rings hollow with every gunshot.
As I expected, rapper 50 Cent carries the plot like a ghetto messiah. He sells drugs, raps and lives to gather respect. What results is a self-indulgent, pseudo-biography of a street leader and his criminal disciples.
Director Jim Sheridan surprised fans when he took this project on. Having proved his worth with the movie "In America," he fails to capture the same visceral drama this time around.
The exposition sets up a dramatic quest of a man, Marcus (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), searching for his father in a world of drug dealers and cruel gangsters. Then without warning, the search for his father takes a backseat position to his pursuit of wealth and women. Then back to his father, and back to fancy cars. Then rapping gets tossed into the mix. This film epitomizes gangster rap at its bombastic worst.
I can't help but contrast this film with Eminem's "8 Mile." No one went to see that movie expecting to be moved to tears. We went to see violence, sex and some really solid rapping. "Get Rich or Die Tryin'Ã " covers the sex and violence, but the wimpy rapping will disappoint. I can understand and tolerate a rap megastar producing a weak movie. But the soundtrack better send shivers down my spine.
Sheridan asks us to revere this film as more than a weekend distraction. He throws in weakly veiled and poorly written musings on inner-city life. He even uses Christ imagery and biblical references. The result is preachy pop culture.
A lack of pacing risks masking the drama. With absolutely no crescendo in plot, I couldn't wrap myself into the story. Not for a single second did I actually care about any of the characters.
This is an epic story without a destination. A story that covers 30 years of dramatic progression, needs a clearly stated goal for the audience to sink their teeth into. Imagine watching "Lawrence of Arabia" without the opening scene showing his death on a British highway. A road map as simple as that is required for us to accept the following decades of narrative. With a conflict as abstract as this film presents, the audience will have trouble relating.
"Get Rich or Die Tryin'Ã " packs at least four movies into a single two-hour film. This is not because there's simply too much good stuff, but because it's trying to be too monumental.
This movie is a gangster with so many guns, jewels and cash he can hardly walk. Sometimes a person -- or a film -- must shed the flashiness to move somewhere. Boil it down and this might be a really entertaining action movie.
I'm not sure who will enjoy this movie. It's too sentimental for the hard-core fans to enjoy, yet too elusive for the human interest crowd. It's too cliche for anyone to actually believe in the dialogue.
Fans of 50 Cent will notice subtle references to his real-life personality. For example, 50 Cent never drinks alcohol -- both in real life and in the film. These little moments will exhilarate those who can tell you his favorite color, zodiac sign and shoe size.
Like an endless bass drum beating my eardrums to deaf, the cheesy one-liners turned my attention to mush.
Put on one of 50 Cent's records instead: you won't feel like you have wasted the last two hours of your life.
Grade: D
Contact Nick Norman at (408) 551-1918 or nicknorman@gmail.com.