The Sunday Mail
TO all Tupac and rap fans out there, are you expecting Tupac’s bio-pic “All Eyez on Me” to be some riveting and action-packed take into the late rappers life?
Well, prepare to be utterly disappointed. In fact, you will be better served visiting the late rapper’s Wikipedia page, as it offers a more in-depth and comprehensive look into the rise and fall of the esteemed rapper. The film, written by Jeremy Haft and directed by Benny Boom, offers a shoddy, and more importantly lazy insight into the life of the late rapper from his early days right up to his death on September 13, 1996.
The story is divided into two parts. The first part takes a narrative form as Tupac, now incarcerated for rape in 1995, meets up with a journalist (Hill Harper) as the two set out to make a documentary about his life. We are then taken back to 1971 where we meet a pregnant Afeni Shakur (Danai Gurira) as she is released from jail for her work with the Black Panthers.
It is here that Tupac, still in his mother’s womb, gets his first taste of activism; something that would play a major role in both his personal life and music career. The film then rushes us through different aspects of his life, some of them important and some not as much, right up to his release in 1995 and then death in 1996. There are so many things wrong with this film, too many to print actually and so I will only concentrate on the bigger glaring problems.
First, I think this project was doomed the very minute Benny Boom signed on to direct. While the 46-year-old African-American is arguably one of the most sought-after music video directors in the game today, it is my belief that he lacked the required experience needed for a project of this importance.
Making four-minute videos for people like Alicia Keys, 50 cent, Busta Rhymes, Keyshia Cole, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj is nothing compared to the demands of a feature, let alone one that seeks to put the legacy of Tupac on the biggest stage of them all (cinema).
The guy lived up to my low expectations. Admittedly, Tupac’s bio was always going to be challenging as they were so many levels to the man among them Tupac the actor, rapper, activist, poet and thug. Rather than just pick on one or two aspects, Boom and company decided to gloss over every single one of them and do justice to none. The film also feels like propaganda as they were some stretchy presentations to some of Tupac’s more infamous incidents and phases in his life.
You cannot expect anyone to believe that the rapper, after hearing snippets of the beats, wrote his verses for California Love and “Gangsta Party” mere minutes of each other while walking down the corridor of Death Row Records.
Tupac’s rape case of 1993, the numerous shooting and assault charges, and his subsequent death in 1996 were all handled in a way that left a lot to be desired. In all incidents, Tupac is treated like a martyr and victim despite our full knowledge of the rapper’s temper, reputation for challenging authority and thug life persona. Now, do not get me wrong: the film is not all bad. Demetrius Shipp Junior (Tupac) and Danai Gurira (Afeni Shakur) are the only reasons to watch this movie.
Shipp completely owns his role as Tupac and the fact that the 28-year-old has a striking resemblance to the late rapper should take nothing away from his performance.
The newcomer studied some of Tupac’s speech patterns and mannerisms to the letter and it is hard not to get lost in his performances, particularly the emotional scenes and when he is addressing the media. Gurira completely steals the show and were it not for her limited role, could have turned this bio-pic into more of an ode to Afeni Shakur; the woman who raised the rapper.
The way she manages to switch gears from the defiant and strong-willed activist we see in the opening acts to the drug addict in the second act and then wraps it all up with iron-willed single mother in the end, is a thing to behold.
The two also have great chemistry as one is almost tempted to forget all the film’s weakness each and every time they share the screen.
