Movie Review: 'Notorious'

In just a few short years, Notorious B.I.G. rose from the streets of Brooklyn to become one of the most influential hip hop artists of all time. B.I.G. was a gifted storyteller; his narratives about violent life on the streets were told with a gritty, objective realism that won him enormous respect and credibility. His stories were universal and gave a voice to his generation.

Storyline:

Producer Sean "Diddy" Combs, enthralls in the story of Notorious B.I.G, which demonstrates the typical story of one's rise to fame ending in tragedy.

In the eighties, he's a chubby boy from Brooklyn, played by his own real life son Christopher Jr., raised by his single mother, after his father proves to be more of a sperm donor than anything. As a teen, now played by Jamal Woodward, Chris turns to street corner drug dealing for the money, which quickly finds him behinds bars.

Discovering his talent of crafting rhymes and branding himself the Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie, lands him a deal with music mogul Sean (then-Puffy) Combs at age twenty. Four years later, he's murder.

Though, the storyline sticks to basics you already knew, it does very little to fill in the gaps, and it creates storylines that quickly disappear without truly being resolved. As with Biggie's mother, who's battle cancer could have been a potentially nice sub plot, but gets the boot just as quickly as it gets introduces. Even the rivalry with Tupac, isn't explored deep enough, in fact, you still remain in the dark about what really went down between the two. One minute their friends, the next, their rivals, and the whole effect and unrealistic change of it all, just seems too rushed.

That said, it was nice that they had an underlying message to the picture, but at times, it seems they were trying to push the message across too erratically. I also didn't like how they had Biggie narrating the story, since its clear nobody actually knows what he was thinking, in fact, this takes away from the quality and creditability of the movie.

Acting:

The heart of this movie lays in the casting, as Angela Bassett and Derek Luke give commendable performances, as Biggie's mother and Sean "Diddy" Combs, respectively. The problem with Angela, who always captures the screen with emotional highs and lows, is that she's extremely under used. Still, in her scenes she captures a rare essence that shows just how great of an actress she really is.

The highlight was definitely in the casting of Jamal Woodward, a Brooklyn born rapper called Gravy, who not only boasts an uncanny resemblance to Biggie, but also brilliantly portrays all the ores Biggie was known for. Given he has no previous acting experience, I was highly impressed.

The acting isn't a complete slam dunk, mainly because of Naturi Naughton and Antonique Smith, who portray his lover Lil' Kim and wife Faith Evans, respectively. Naturi's performance comes across extremely too forced and Antonique's, like she isn't trying enough, but they both look the part. That said, I now understand why Lil' Kim didn't like the way the film portrayed her, because both women are reduced to nothing more than common whores, which may be the case or just an attempt to boost the movie's interest. I put my money on the first for both ladies.

In addition, the movie lets Biggie take sole credit for Lil' Kim style, from the way she raps to the way she dresses, which is probably what Lil Kim had a problem with the most. As for Naturi, I find it questionable as to why she would take on a movie like this that has her doing nudity straight out the gate, not a smart decision, in fact, I always say if you're going to do nudity follow Halle Berry's route, and build your resume as a respectable actress first.

Direction & Visual:

Visually, the movie goes the traditional Hip-Hop route of capturing the life of the industry, but does very little to break the mold. Still, not a bad switch of transitions and lanes.

Overall:

I'll be the first to admit, I'd written this project off before it even begin production, but it was actually a enjoyable effort, by no means groundbreaking and you won't see it on the awards front come award season, but still solid.

3 out of 5