Not good.

robhartjr

score 3/10

I waited. We all waited. I wanted to like this. I really did. I rarely trust critic reviews. But I do check them out sometimes. One thing to learn from a movie before its theatrical release is, if they don't release early critic reviews within a week of its release, then its because they know they made a bad movie that critics will tear apart and don't want that influencing opening box office numbers. Well this movie had no reviews leading up to its Thursday night release. I saw the premiere and hoped that this wasn't going to be the case. Sadly it was. I came out of the movie so very disappointed and underwhelmed. I checked online to see if critic reviews where finally released....and low and behold, they were just as disappointed if not more than me. Like I said, I rarely trust critics, but this time they are really giving you a much needed warning when it comes to this over-hyped movie.

John Singleton was the original director before leaving the project because they wouldn't let him use his vision. He has since foreshadowed that they were gonna 'ruin' this movie. He was right. Sure the actor looks almost exactly like Tupac, but his acting was below average and his portrayal was very very off. Sure it has Tupacs music and some biased portrayals of his life, but this is stuff we already knew and didn't really execute the message in any way that made this movie a must see. There are a few scenes that seem nostalgic, but overall the movie has production value similar to a made for TV movie. This is unfortunate considering it was made on a budget of 45 million. The final act, that everyone really came to see was somewhat intense but the ending overall was almost disrespectful to Tupac rather than celebratory. This was an overall moneygrab disaster. Speaking of moneygrabbing, its obvious they chose Tupacs birthday as a release date to cash in knowing it would be a frontloaded weekend for the movie. Other than that, I am glad this movie will become a flop. When it comes to Tupacs legacy this movie should not be considered canon.

Its a shame, this is a story that the public wanted for years. But it wasn't the right movie at all. Save your money and skip this and listen to his music and watch documentaries of his life. I hope the upcoming Johnny Depp led movie based on real life detectives who worked on the case of Tupacs death is much better. This is simply not good.

robhartjr 15 June 2017

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3731339/