Welcome to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! **queue in intro music**
Today's movie review is a flick I admit has intrigued me - City Of Lies (2018). This movie was supposed to be released in September 2018, however it was shelved. The movie itself provides an intake on the question of who killed Christopher Wallace, also known by his rapper MC name Notorious B.I.G.
The movie starring Johnny Depp as the detective Russell Poole, was shelved due to legal rights and a legal dispute between the producers/production company and the LAPD
Obviously I was eager to see the movie and to be fair I wasn't disappointed. It is not a great movie overall and the performances were substantial.
To educate you movie goers Biggie Smalls was killed just a few months after Tupac Shakur, his former friend turned worst rival. Forest Whitaker co-stars as the journalist reporter Darius Jackson who exploits this coincidence by writing up a piece titled East vs West. Many years later he feels guilty was used for fame and glory. Knowing his wrongs he visits Poole and together go through the case and soon is introduced to Poole's theory.
So, what happened to Biggie? The movie explores this question through Poole's investigation which leads to a theory - that the real murderers were dirty police officers working with DeathRow records. An interesting theory which is controversial and provides an understanding why this movie was shelved.
Now to give you movie goers a heads-up - the murder is not solved in the movie, hence this is an ongoing murder case. It is more about obsession and frustration, which is portrayed by these two characters. The first half of the movie involves Depp and Whitaker going through the details of the murder case and reminiscing about the facts of who was involved and labels the major perpetrators. The second half failed to execute the hype and not diving into why these two characters were obsessed, what have they been doing the past 15 years and what is driving their obsessive compulsive behaviours?
Another angle that could have been taken is trying to prevent the seeds of corruption, violence and greed which continue to be found in the current generation in the Rap and Hip-Hop industry. Both the deaths of these rappers have echoed a lifetime of listeners
A great shout out to the screen appears Voletta Wallace, mother of rapper of Christopher Wallace and you can see her eternal struggle to uncover the truth about her son's death.
Overall the movie displays new ideas on unsolved cases however the directions could have been done wayyy better including to look into each individuals' background, how the case has affected them and focusing on the impact these murders has had not only to the major characters involved but to society, 6/10
Today's movie review is a flick I admit has intrigued me - City Of Lies (2018). This movie was supposed to be released in September 2018, however it was shelved. The movie itself provides an intake on the question of who killed Christopher Wallace, also known by his rapper MC name Notorious B.I.G.
The movie starring Johnny Depp as the detective Russell Poole, was shelved due to legal rights and a legal dispute between the producers/production company and the LAPD
Obviously I was eager to see the movie and to be fair I wasn't disappointed. It is not a great movie overall and the performances were substantial.
To educate you movie goers Biggie Smalls was killed just a few months after Tupac Shakur, his former friend turned worst rival. Forest Whitaker co-stars as the journalist reporter Darius Jackson who exploits this coincidence by writing up a piece titled East vs West. Many years later he feels guilty was used for fame and glory. Knowing his wrongs he visits Poole and together go through the case and soon is introduced to Poole's theory.
So, what happened to Biggie? The movie explores this question through Poole's investigation which leads to a theory - that the real murderers were dirty police officers working with DeathRow records. An interesting theory which is controversial and provides an understanding why this movie was shelved.
Now to give you movie goers a heads-up - the murder is not solved in the movie, hence this is an ongoing murder case. It is more about obsession and frustration, which is portrayed by these two characters. The first half of the movie involves Depp and Whitaker going through the details of the murder case and reminiscing about the facts of who was involved and labels the major perpetrators. The second half failed to execute the hype and not diving into why these two characters were obsessed, what have they been doing the past 15 years and what is driving their obsessive compulsive behaviours?
Another angle that could have been taken is trying to prevent the seeds of corruption, violence and greed which continue to be found in the current generation in the Rap and Hip-Hop industry. Both the deaths of these rappers have echoed a lifetime of listeners
A great shout out to the screen appears Voletta Wallace, mother of rapper of Christopher Wallace and you can see her eternal struggle to uncover the truth about her son's death.
Overall the movie displays new ideas on unsolved cases however the directions could have been done wayyy better including to look into each individuals' background, how the case has affected them and focusing on the impact these murders has had not only to the major characters involved but to society, 6/10