Change Your Image
masmou1984
Reviews
Before I Self Destruct (2009)
It wasn't a crappy movie but it sure wasn't a great movie either
Curtis, Curtis oh Curtis, why art thou Curtis.. If you like his music, i mean if you like his ghetto centric violence glamorizing lyrics then there are some chances you will like this movie. Mr. Fifty plays a talented basketball player who unfortunately injures his knee. So he turns into a heartless killer. Well, his mother dies, he has to take care of his brother but gets fired from his job and gets an eviction notice first. Then he turns into a heartless killer.
The acting is OK. Can't say I am impressed. Fifty does the best job. The story is less than average though. He draws a nihilistic picture of living in the hood, as does Gangstarap in general, a genre which of course Mr fifty cent is a notorious representative. What puzzles me is that the (subliminal) message is in some way that even a black young man, who is a promising athlete and never touched the criminal lifestyle can turn into a shotgun-blasting killer just like that. With no second thought on why his mother got killed he somehow enters the same criminal spiral. However i guess he kills only those who "deserve it". It is interesting that what brings him down is his trust for women, as she betrays him. Just like Gangstarap, where violence is needed, money is love, and females are not to be trusted this Fifty makes these parts of Gangstarap to a movie. It is interesting to analyze this movie in the context of the academic discussion regarding Hip Hop and Gangstarap nowadays (No, I'm not talking about C.Delores Tucker, O'Reilly and other numskulls. The REAL discussion going on, Mos def, The Roots etc..)
Better acting, better storyline and creativity is what I am missing from Curtis. This is no more than listening to his albums, and I had hoped for a bit more diversity in his productions rather than a simple replay on his rap lyrics in a manuscript form.