- Actors: Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Dominic L. Santana, Kat Graham, Lauren Cohan
- Director: Benny Boom
- Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rated: R
- Studio: LIONSGATE
- Release Date: September 5, 2017
- Run Time: 140 minutes
All Eyez on Me plays like a greatest
hits album, hitting all of the expected plot points of the rapper’s short life
and career, without any of the context from the full albums. It reads like a
list of occurrences, without any real soul attached to the story or filmmaking.
Sure, we get to see an actor play out the controversial interviews about his
tattoos and the contradiction of his words and his actions, in-between staged
performances of popular songs, but there is no life in the narrative. It feels
like a checklist, a collection of scenes that are loosely connected. Somehow
too long to remain interesting and too short to cover the amount of material
accurately, All Eyez on Me may have
been better as a TV miniseries or a shorter and more focused film.
John Singleton
was originally attached to direct the film, but parted ways when his vision
wasn’t the same as the producers. Instead, All
Eyez on Me is directed by Benny Boom, whose credits are primarily filled
with music videos and random TV episodes. This is extremely clear by the way
the film lacks focus, and also by the tendency to put the spotlight more on the
iconic songs used as the background for scenes than the drama actually
unfolding in the dialogue. The screenplay by Jeremy Haft, Eddie Gonzalez and
Steven Bagatourian does not make his job any easier, as it attempts to cover
every significant event in the rapper’s life without actually giving any of
these moments the time necessary for them to resonate. This means a fast-forward
journey through a young Tupac’s childhood and teen years, after even giving
background about his rebellious mother prior to him being born. Not that we
need another one, but it feels like Boom and his screenwriters would have been
better suited to make a documentary about the rapper.
Even with the
early background cluttering the movie, a majority of the film focuses on his
young adult years, with look-alike Detrius Shipp, Jr. playing the icon. But the
similar looks and demeanor aren’t enough for this inexperienced actor to carry
the film, though it often feels as though the filmmakers thought this would be
enough. As the film scrolls through the list of events in Tupac’s life, the
entire endeavor starts to resemble the cinematic version of a lip-sync
performance. The greatest hope for the film is that it will remind you of how
much Tupac did with his 25 years, if only because the movie tries to cram it
all in.
There is no
narrative flow to carry us from one sequence to another, so that the film just
plays like a series of vignettes. We see Tupac as he records and performs
iconic tracks (even mistakenly including one that wasn’t released until after
he had died), as well as giving us brief glimpses of him on set for his best
remembered film roles. When it comes to the actual events of his life, the
storyline tends to dwell on his financial issues and the disagreements that
ensued because of them. Even his rivalries with other rappers just feel
superficial, painting the icon to be far more childish and petty than most
would likely rather remember him. His poetic interviews are altered to make him
seem like an immature hypocrite. In short, All
Eyez on Me does more to tear down the legend of Tupac than it does to
continue it. As I was watching the film, I couldn’t help but feel that his
legacy was at its height in the 1990s, and this film is evidence of how much it
has quietly subsided since then.
The Blu-ray
release comes with a DVD and Digital HD copy of the film. The high definition
is less significant for the visuals of the film, which don’t often impress
despite Boom’s experience in the stylized medium of music videos. Where the
film does take advantage of the higher quality is the sound, although the
levels seem off. The bass shook my entire home whenever one of the iconic song
tracks began playing, while the dialogue was so low that I was constantly
struggling to hear what was said. This meant I was often turning the volume up
or down to counter the difference.
Despite being overlong, the special
features still include about 8 minutes of deleted scenes. There is also a
making-of featurette that is almost 25-minutes long, as well as a 35-minute
roundtable conversation about Tupac’s influence. The newcomer playing the
central role is also given focus, with Shipp’s audition footage included
alongside a featurette about his journey to become the rapper, including losing
weight to closer resemble him.
Entertainment Value:
6.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 4/10
Special Features: 7/10
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