Get Rich or Die Trying is a semi-autobiography based on superstar rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s life. Despite brief flashes of brillance, the movie was under-developed and ran for way too long.
Get Rich or Die Trying doesn’t break any new ground in the gangster-rap movie genre. A high body count and little plot development seem to be the formula used in this film. It is surprising that for over 2 hours there could be so little plot and character development. The movie goes from one scene to another and leaves the viewers wondering what just happened.
50 Cent mumbles his lines and displays a mean screwface for most of the movie, but does bring a kind of quiet charisma to the screen. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is effectively menacing as Majestic, and Terrance Howard shines as the most interesting character in the movie. Howard plays Bama, an eccentric, hilarious and frightening down-south hustler 50 Cent meets during a stint in jail who later becomes his manager.
The lure of a biopic is its ability to take a normal life story and make it compelling. The irony of Get Rich of Die Trying is it would have been better if it had stayed closer to 50 Cent’s actual life. In his autobiography From Pieces to Weight Fiddy described his mother as loving but tough as coffin nail. When young Curtis came to her crying after getting beat up, she sent him back out to fight again. This time he had better knock the bully out or take his beating like a man, she said. Rather than disappoint his mom, Curtis bashed the kid’s face in with a rock.
In the movie his mother isn’t nearly as interesting. In reality, Fiddy left the drug game after the birth of his son and honed his hobby into a career guided by his mentor and hip-hop icon Jam Master Jay. In the movie, 50 Cent’s aspiration to get involved in the rap game is muddled and his rise from a nobody to a rap star is never really explained.
The movie, does offer graphic scenes rich with emotion. When the violence isn’t gratuitous, it enriches the movie with visceral impact. In once scene 50 Cent’s past finally catches up with him, and he is shot down in the streets. Bullet ridden and on the ground, Fiddy stares death down a gun barrel. Luckily the shot intended for his temple nails him in the jaw, leaving him on the concrete leaking blood through his teeth while his grandmother watches in horror. The scene makes you cringe in your seat, but it somehow has the ability to keep your eyes glued to the scene.
For all its shortcomings, Get Rich or Die Trying is still entertaining, and it offers a cinematic experience that is pleasing to the eye. It’s a spectacle that diehard 50 Cent fans will love, but the regular viewer could take or leave.
