This movie has one of the best opening scenes I have ever seen. 50 Cent’s I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy is blasting over the speakers describing the heist that he’s about to commit. And the way the rearview mirror trembles under the force of that bass, pure perfection. You could argue that things only go downhill from there but I beg to differ. So, please allow me to make my case as I think Get Rich or Die Tryin is a movie worth watching. It follows Curtis Jackson AKA 50 Cent and his rise to success. We will learn more about his youth and his drug dealing days.
Unlike most of these gangsta rappers, 50 Cent is the real deal. He was really on that corner, day and night, strapped and ready to go. I’m not saying this is a positive thing, this is just how things be. The movie goes back and forth between his budding music career and his criminal enterprises. And it does so pretty abruptly. For example, we never learn that he actually learned how to rap from Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC who was his unofficial mentor back in 1996. I think it’s best to look at Get Rich or Die Tryin as another addition to the once popular hood/gangsta subgenre.
I mean, during the nineties, we got at least two or three good hood movies each year. I’m talking about movies like Deep Cover, In Too Deep, Boyz n the Hood, New Jack City, and others. Hell, there’s even a Wayans Brothers comedy parodying all of them. Don’t Be A Menace is a cult classic and be sure to check it out. In each of these movies, we follow a group of young black guys struggling to get to the top or just survive. We see where they come from and just how difficult life is for them. How the odds are stacked against them and how the system works.
I guess before we go any further we have to talk about the fact that 50 Cent plays himself in this movie. And he’s not the greatest actor, to say the least. I mean, he’s got that dead look in his eyes and quite a limited range of motions and emotions. No doubt this is a consequence of growing up on the streets and gang culture. Whatever you might think about him and his performance here, there’s no denying that he’s authentic. After all, he fucking lived this story. There’s also no denying that he had a pretty interesting life, to say the least.
Jim Sheridan, the director of the movie, blamed 50 Cent for the poor box office performance. Sheridan, an Irish playwright whose most popular movies are fucked up dramas like My Left Foot and The Field was an odd choice for the director. Apparently, Bono of U2 introduced him to 50 and things started happening from that moment on. Moving on, the rest of the cast gave excellent performances. Terrence Howard was convincing as Bama, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje imposing as Majestic and the cherry on the top is Bill Duke as Levar.
The soundtrack is absolutely banging featuring some of the 50 Cent’s best songs. Well, at least in my opinion. We’ve got the above-mentioned I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy along with hits like Hustler’s Ambition, Window Shopper, and When It Rains It Pours. I mean, what’s left, In Da Club and Candy Shop? Speaking of music, if you’re looking for more movies like Get Rich or Die Tryin check out Straight Outta Compton, Notorious, and All Eyez on Me.
Director: Jim Sheridan
Writer: Terence Winter
Cast: 50 Cent, Joy Bryant, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Omar Benson Miller, Terrence Howard
Fun Facts: 50 Cent, knowing that this is his first movie role hired an acting coach to help him with his performance. However, director Jim Sheridan was strongly against this movie and eventually talked 50 into firing the poor woman. He also said to 50: “If this fails, it won’t be because you can’t act. It’s because I didn’t direct you right.”
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430308/
