by John Bear
Daily Lobo
"Get Rich or Die Tryin'" defies expectations in two ways.
One, it doesn't suck outright.
Two, while it is by no means "Citizen Kane," it does contain one moment of expert filmmaking: 50 Cent's big jail-house, shower-room fight scene.
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Six or seven nude felons sloshing around a wet tile floor, trying to beat the tar out of one another, is by no means my bag- - I know one girl who will be on her way to the theater as soon as she hears about 50 in the buff - but this scene is so deftly executed, it makes it into my top 10 favorite movie moments. Any director who can leave me repulsed at the sight of a half dozen unholstered penises wagging about the silver screen, but unable to look away because of the sheer hilarity of what can only be described as the super gangster Ice Capades, gets my vote for artistic genius of the year.
If you are into this type of thing, then it is a double whammy of a good scene. Nice work, Jim Sheridan.
The rest of the movie fares slightly less well. If "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" can be grouped under a sequence of films that begins with "8 Mile," then it falls significantly short of its counterpart. Eminem's Jimmy possesses more depth and arouses more sympathy in the viewer than 50's Marcus who is, after all, a crack dealer. It is hard to feel sorry for anyone who inflicts misery and suffering on others as a crack dealer does, no matter how dire his or her economic circumstances may be. Maybe I just relate to Eminem on a deeper level, as we are both white dudes who act more white trash than we actually are.
The entire premise of selling drugs, getting shot and becoming rich at the end is slightly unsettling. I am reminded of the final line of "Menace II Society," when Caine lies fatally wounded and says, "My grandpa asked me one time if I care whether I live or die. Yeah, I do. Now it's too late." Many of those older hood movies ended with most of the principal characters shot or in jail, in effect, serving as cautionary tales against being a gangster. "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" praises this kind of lifestyle.
But the film does work on that level, a gangster flick. 50 is not much of an actor, but he comes across as a believable shadow of himself, and Terrence Howard delivers a standout performance as the ill-tempered Bama.
All told, the film feels like it was shot and then the producers realized they only had an hour of film, so they added unnecessary footage. It is also highly episodic, appearing more like four episodes of "The 50 Cent Variety Hour" than a feature-length film.
Despite its shortcomings, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" is an entertaining movie, worth the price of admission. Even my brother, a sworn enemy of gangster rappers everywhere, liked this film.
