Get Rich or Die Tryin’

November 14, 2005

Rated: R Runtime: 134 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

A couple of days ago if someone asked me if I had heard of 50 Cent, I would have checked my pockets and handed the guy two quarters. Today I know he is a former gangster turned rapper that was shot NINE times! I know this because the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’ tells me it is so. This film is a fictional spin on the true-life story of one Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson and told from mutiple angles. Orphan turned drug dealer – Drug Dealer turned Gangsta – Gangsta turned inmate – Inmate turned father – Father turned Rapper. I mean father as in parent to a child, not ‘Father’ as in man of the cloth. Just felt like I needed to clear that one up before we go any further.

Get Rich or Die Tryin' The movie opens with a botched robbery of a Columbian check-cashing joint involving main character Marcus (50) and 3 members of his crew, including cell mate turned manager, Bama (Howard). Marcus needs money to hold him over until his record deal comes through, and this seemed like the easiest way to get it. The robbery is over and Marcus is in front of his Grandma’s place when the infamous shooting occurs. One unknown (at this time anyway) shooter comes from out of nowhere and starts blasting. Eight bullets catch Marcus in various parts of the body, he tries to crawl away but due to blood loss and being shot in general, he doesn’t get far before his would be assassin catches up to him. The shooter walks up, puts the gun to his head and this is when the real story begins. Marcus is internally narrating at this point, just like any character that is about to head into the great recording studio in the sky, which makes him flash back 10 years to when he was 12 years old and things weren’t so complicated.

Things start out well enough, a little boy singing in the car with his mom as they go to see Grandma for Sunday dinner. Tales of urban woe never wind up that way so you know bad things are coming. Marcus’ mother is not what you could consider an honest hard working member of society… she is drug dealer so as an audience you just wait for the inevitable. It comes pretty quickly so you don’t have to wait too long, I promise. Mommy pushes the wrong competitor and gets herself killed, thus leaving little Marcus left alone. Grandma and Grandpa do the best they can, considering the house has eight kids in it already. Little Marcus follows in Mommy’s footsteps and becomes a cocaine dealer on the same corner his mom used to control. Rival drug dealers push him around, he gets a gun, gets kicked out… blah blah blah. The story is very typical of the genre so there is no reason to explain any more of it than I already have, so we will call it here. If you are a fan of 50’s music and like this type of story you will like it. If you are looking for a thought provoking, multi layered story and you don’t care for hip-hop music, this movie is not for you.

50 Cent’s move from music to film is less than successful in my opinion and unless he learns a little bit more about the art of acting, my guess is there won’t be a sequel unless he pays for it himself. Jackson acts like he raps, slow and methodical, which isn’t completely a bad thing. The problem here is that this story needed a little bit more emotion from the main character than Curtis can provide. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is 100% dependant on emotion and 50 always has the exact same look on his face no matter what is going on, which just didn’t work. You need to feel for this character and the choices in his life that lead him to the place he is today… I think a different actor could have told 50’s story better than he could because Jackson is not an actor. In short, this movie is ‘OK’ and worth a rent if you are a casual fan, or if you are a person that is just curious to find out what it took for 50 Cent to go from street thug to hip-hop mega star. This movie is heavy on the fiction but the supporting characters and actors make this movie passable, and it gets 3 solid stars for that alone.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 3 Stars, 50 Cent, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Bill Duke, Drama, Joy Bryant, R, Terrence Howard, Theatrical