Bee Eye Gee (Notorious [2009] (DVD))

Member Name: StrongSide

Product:	Notorious [2009] (DVD)
Date:	24/08/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Woolard does a decent, Bassett

Disadvantages: The music scenes aren't very good, not that accurate

Notorious attempts to depict the story of Christopher Wallace's (Biggie Smalls) life from his early years to his early death. Jamal Woolard, an aspiring MC himself, has an admirable performance considering this is his first major film.

The movie first shows Biggie before he was Biggie. A studious boy with no father and a stern but loving mother played exceptionally well by Angela Bassett. As he grows up, the world around him eventually pulls him in as he starts dealing crack and gets kicked out the house. A visit in jail and a close second encounter leads him to start taking rapping more seriously. Going from small gigs to releasing worldwide albums was very poorly done; there was no inbetween at all.

The East Coast-West Coast rivalry was also not started in enough detail. Tupac and BIG became rivals too quickly and the shooting was rushed and probably highly inaccurate.

My biggest complaint with Notorious is the representation of Biggie himself. He's portrayed as the victim far too much and after ignoring his child and cheating on every girlfriend he's with, somehow he's still the good guy. I imagine Christopher Wallace had a good heart (as corny as that sounds) and loved his mother and the music but was probably more violent and less innocent than depicted.

Nonetheless Notorious is an interesting and fairly entertaining surface look at Biggie's life. The fans will probably appreciate it less however due to being so vague and the lack of memorable music scenes.

5/10

Summary: I still think 8 Mile is the best of this genre.