It takes more than
‘50-Cent’ to Get Rich
By Casey Cavalier
Entertainment Editor
When a director has to hire 35 stuntmen to get
your life story on screen, you are a certified
“badass.” On talk shows, Jackson claims
80 percent of the film Get Rich or Die Tryin’
is autobiographical.
Jackson’s character, Marcus, is a sensitive
kid who gets tough after his mom dies. He becomes
entangled in a New York City drug war.
Irish director Jim Sheridan (In America,
In the Name of the Father) doesn’t
glamorize Marcus or his gang-banging ways. However,
when you lay a throbbing soundtrack behind someone’s
life and blow it up against a giant luminous screen,
that life will almost always look sexy.
Get Rich opens with a tight shot of
a dark SUV’s driver-side mirror. The bass
of the truck’s sound system is so powerful
that everything seen in the mirror is shaking
and distorted.
This shot holds for a nearly uncomfortable period
of time. It’s how Sheridan establishes a
point of view, how he places us at the scene of
the crime and how he drops us into Marcus‘
neighborhood.
The music and engine cut. The trucks doors open.
Marcus and his crew step into the dark South Bronx
street.
It’s perfectly clear that Marcus has chosen
a rough path. We follow him as he’s shot
at, pumped with bullets, and as he languishes
in solitary confinement.
The amount of violence in Get Rich is
not above average, but what we see is potent.
Jackson’s performance, like his public persona,
is low-key. He chews on his lines but still gets
his point across.
Fortunately, every actor with whom he shares
the screen is a strong player. Sheridan uses enough
of the film’s soundtrack to flavor key scenes
without relying on it to exclusively carry the
film.
Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is not
8 Mile Part II. There are few similarities.
Sheridan, “Get Rich” is a
grittier, more dramatic film and it doesn’t
stray too far. It gives us a view of the good,
the bad and the consequences.
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