All Eyez on Me

I’ve got FOUR reviews to write. Let’s get started on one for a movie about a rapper.

All Eyez on Me chronicles the rise of Tupac Shakur to become one of the most successful rappers in history and his death in 1996.

Sorry about the low resolution.

Tupac is played by Demetrius Shipp Jr. This is not a performance that I want to win an Oscar, but it is a very energetic and well-crafted take on a man that I can best describe as controversial.

The acting across the board is very good. However, that’s where my untainted praise for this film ends, sadly.

This is a biopic, therefore it as to summarise significant events in Tupac’s life to give us a portrait of him. Trouble is, I don’t feel like I KNOW Tupac that well by the end of this. I don’t really feel for him like I should.

Framed lazily through an in-film interview with Tupac during a stint in prison, we don’t even get the excuse that he is too big a man for us to understand like in Lawrence of Arabia. He just comes across as a guy who gets into the rap world.

The films seems to want to make some tragic point about ambition being left unchecked, but as the end-credits roll, it feels like they forgot to show the downside of the life that Tupac chose. This may have landed it the Wolf of Wall Street excuse, that it’s a mirror on the audience, but Shakur is just too likable. So in the end, the morals of All Eyez on Me become a primordial soup and the result is a bit boring.

Things just kind of happen in this film and not in a good way. For 140 minutes we try to understand the movie’s admirably vehement points on race and our lead, but the structure is so wobbly I keep wanting Tupac to die early, which is not a good thing.

Recommended Scenario: If you’re a fan of Tupac and want to see a hopefully upcoming star in the form of the lead of the picture.