Jackson Booth-Millard
The Tupac Shakur biographical film All Eyez on Me was being released in cinemas, and I had watched the fantastic N.W.A. biographical film Straight Outta Compton, so I felt it only right to watch this film focusing on one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Basically young Christopher George Latore Wallace (Christopher Jordan Wallace, Biggie's son) lived his childhood years in Brooklyn, New York, and became a drug dealer at the height of the crack epidemic, hustling with Damion "D-Roc" Butler (Dennis L.A. White) and Lil' Cease (Marc John Jefferies). Christopher (Jamal Woolard) is told by his girlfriend Jan Jackson (Julia Pace Mitchell) that she is pregnant, so he earns more money to support his family, taking his drug dealing seriously, and participates in a rap battle, which he wins, but his mother Voletta (Angela Bassett) kicks him out for drug possession and not attending school. Christopher spends nine months in prison for possession of guns and drugs, until he is bailed, then he meets Kimberly "'Lil Kim" Jones (Naturi Naughton), but she was abused in a previous relationship, so refuses to pursue another. Christopher reconciles with his mother and visits his newborn daughter, T'Yanna, then he catches the attention of ambitious record producer for Uptown, Sean "Puffy" Combs, or "Puff Daddy", or "P. Diddy" (Derek Luke), with his recorded demo, under the name "Biggie Smalls", he is promised a record deal, but it falls through, and he and D-Roc are again arrested, but D-Roc takes the blame to allow Chris to pursue his music career. Biggie is depressed finding out his mother has breast cancer, but Puffy establishes new record label Bad Boy and signs Biggie, he records his debut album Ready to Die, and during a photo shoot meets R&B singer Faith Evans (Antonique Smith), they begin a relationship, and marry, she catches him cheating, but they later reconcile, but tension still grows between Chris, Faith, Jan and Kim. Celebrating the release of the album, Biggie, also becoming known as "The Notorious B.I.G.", meets rapper Tupac "2Pac" Shakur (Anthony Mackie), he admires 2Pac, but questions people he associates with, Biggie blames Bad Boy when the news breaks that 2Pac is robbed and shot, dissing the record label at an awards ceremony. Rivalry increases between Biggie and 2Pac, the media refer to it as the "East Coast-West Coast rivalry", with attacks made on both sides, an unknown caller gives Biggie a death threat, and 2Pac and Suge Knight (Sean Ringgold) verbally assault Biggie at a party. 2Pac interprets Biggie's latest song "Who Shot Ya?" as a diss at him, but Biggie and Puffy claim it was recorded before the shooting, 2Pac responds with a diss song at Bad Boy called "Hit 'Em Up", then 2Pac and Faith have a magazine photo shoot together, but she insists to Biggie nothing happened between them, they try to reconcile when she tells him she is pregnant with their child. The East and West coast rivalry continues to escalate, Biggie gets booed at a concert in Sacramento, California, but then he performs "Who Shot Ya?", the rivalry between Biggie and 2Pac continues until 2Pac is killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Biggie and D-Roc renew their friendship, Biggie considers pulling out of the rap game, but he goes to Los Angeles, California to promote his upcoming album Life After Death, bringing D-Roc, Lil' Cease, Puff and Faith with him, while there Biggie receives more death threats. Following a phone call to 'Lil Kim to apologise and arrange a meeting, Biggie leaves the party, he is shot and killed by an unknown gunman when getting into his car, his funeral is held a few days later, his friends, family and thousands of fans lining the street mourn, Biggie's song "Hypnotize" plays as his casket is driven down the city streets. Also starring Jasper Briggs as Damion (Age 8-13), Cyrus Farmer as Art Selwyn and Edwin Freeman as Mister Cee. Newcomer Woolard just about looks and sounds the part of the larger than life rap star, and there is good support from Bassett, Naughton and Wallace Jr. playing his own father as a young man. There are some memorable sequences, from sex scenes and of course the recognisable songs (I was hoping the Biggie Smalls tribute song "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans and 112 would be included), but the script is full of the hip hop lifestyle clichés, and doesn't cover enough of the subjects we know about from the media, a not well executed but reasonable in parts biographical drama. Okay!
eddie052010
When a musician reaches a certain level of fame in their career, many companies will seize on the opportunity to cash in. One of these ways is through a film biopic of their life, which gives old and new fans a chance to explore the depths of their idols and see a more interesting side of them that they hadn't previously been aware of. Notorious (based on the life of rapper Notorious B.I.G) is one such example, and while it is an enjoyable and compelling piece, it is perhaps more suited to the rapper's new fans rather than his die- hard ones.The story focuses on the life of Biggie Smalls (AKA the Notorious B.I.G) from his early beginnings as a New York drug dealer to his early success when he signs on to Bad Boy Records to his personal relationships later in life to his untimely death by an unknown assailant. The story is one of the film's major problems, as while it goes over his life's important events, it often just skims through them, without going into much depth. The most detail the film goes into about his life is his womanising. It's surprising that the film has been called hagiographic, as it does show the ugly side of this, as he is very passive about it, eventually cheating on his wife because of it, who (quite rightly) throws him out of their house, and it gives both the film and its title character the conflict that it otherwise lacks, and is the most engaging part of the film because of it.The rest of the film is more standard, as it shows us many of his life's highlights in brief portions, which while interesting to those who may not be familiar with the rapper, isn't as exciting if you already know the story. It also doesn't help that the film clearly alters history for its own ends. Bad Boy Record head Puff Daddy (who also produces the film) is suspiciously portrayed more hagiographically than BIG himself, many of BIG's problems aren't perhaps as accurately as they should be (i.e. the drug dealing and firearms charges aren't as severe as they would be in reality) and you can't help that the film has a overtly negative view of the West Coast rap scene, mainly that of Suge Knight & Tupac Shukar, leading to many set-pieces (mainly one which describes why Tupac turned on Biggie) that even those who have reservations towards Suge and Tupac (I have my own) won't buy. The film still manages to be quite an enjoyable ride though, as the pacing is good and a lot of the acting is great, particularly that of Jamal Woolard as the title character. Apparently he put a lot of preparation into the role (i.e. learning the songs word perfect, researching his character), and it clearly shows, and fits perfectly into the role because of it, and brings more appreciation and depth to the rapper than the film itself. All the other actors are pretty good too, with the exception of Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shukar, who while good, doesn't bother to attempt to look (only bearing the slightest resemblance) or sound like Tupac, something even more distracting considering Jamal's accuracy to his role or how one of Tupac's songs plays on the radio at one point, making the differences even more obvious.However, despite its faults, Notorious isn't an overall bad film. It's just a very flawed biopic that is worth watching, but mainly for those who are unfamiliar with the subject, as it gives the viewer the basic facts about the star, to perhaps create new fans in the process who will look more in-depth afterwards. But for those who are die-hard fans, the film is still pretty good for what it is. Perhaps it doesn't go into as much depth as one likes, and certain details about the film have either been altered or fabricated, but it is still an entertaining, engaging and perfectly watchable film that is occasionally very detailed and you'll be treated to some fine acting, especially from Jamal Woolard who was clearly born to play the Notorious B.I.G, and it also has the very upbeat and positive message of following your dreams. It's quite good overall and is worth watching, but it may still take a while for the definitive story of the Notorious B.I.G to be made, even though this is a good first stab. Just don't confuse this for the Hitchcock one.
