Film Review: Get Rich or Die Tryin' (dir. J. Sheridan 2005)

Another hoodlum makes good, somewhat, through the power of the rap music. Like 8 Mile, this one is, to some extent, autobiographical. And like 8 Mile, this one is greatly helped by the charisma of its lead. If anything, Mr. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has more charisma than that Marshall Mathers character. Only that charisma explains the romantic subplot, for example, which otherwise wouldn't make sense.

This film works chiefly because it doesn't pull its punches. The protagonist, Marcus a/k/a Young Caesar, is a hoodlum, and he's shown in that light, from start to, well, finish. But he's a hoodlum with a head for business and an ear for the rhyme. And, of course, he's complex--after taking the fall for something that was, really, his fault, he walks away from the game, only . . . you see it coming . . . to get pulled back in . . . and then comes the turning point. The film is very, very violent, so if that is an issue for you, don't watch it. (Trust me.)

My favorite scene is when, in jail/prison, Marcus expresses himself by carving his rhymes on the wall of his cell with a razor blade (long story). The voiceover--and, yes, there's plenty of voiceover here, folks--explains that this is Marcus expressing himself. The first three words he scratches on the wall? "THE MOTHER FUCKER." Now that's self-expression. The MFer, of course, is the man who killed Marcus's mother . . . but rest assured, gentle reader, Marcus gets his revenge, in the end. Sort of.

Maybe the film doesn't escape cliche, but I thought that it was an interesting two hours of entertainment. For one thing, I'd never really thought that the rap scene and the drug trafficking scene were this closely linked. And, Terence Howard puts in a great performance, even in a limited role. See my reviews of Hustle and Flow and Crash. I'm a big fan of Howard's.