Before I Self Destruct: Underground Movie Review

Marketing is a key strategy for a product to succeed. Some may deny its power but products need marketing for everyone to know about it - with knowledge comes power as they say. In films, there are a lot of examples of creative marketing strategies. Very recent specimens are the films "2012" or "Paranormal Activity" that have successfully garnered a lot of attention and with that exponentially larger ticket sales. "Before I Self Destruct" has the same intention but in reverse - promoting the music album through film. The movie coincides with the release of 50 Cent's awaited album of the same name. What is interesting though is that 50 Cent wrote and directed the film. Can it succeed as a film or is it just a filler, a tool for the music album? Is 50 Cent talented not only with music but films as well? Read on to find out our say.

Clarence (Curtis Jackson) was a streetball legend in the making until a knee injury took his game away. One year after, Clarence is struggling to cope in a life without basketball. He has trouble landing a job and his mother is doing a lot of extra work to support him and his younger brother, Shocka. When his mother was accidentally shot dead, Clarence seeks revenge on the shooter, Tiny, and kills hims. Clarence finds out that Sean (Clifton Powell) was the one who told Tiny to do the shooting and when he confronts him, Sean offers him Tiny's job for a lot of money. Out of financial desperation, Clarence accepts and soon enjoys the life of a hired hitman.

"Before I Self Destruct" is a good first try for 50 Cent but the film needed polishing in a lot of areas if it wants to appease the mainstream crowd. For the good things, the movie had an interesting story and clearly showed that it was not all action. Deep moral and life issues are tackled here and will leave you thinking what is the right (or wrong) decision and mindset. The soundtrack was booming indeed and we really liked that it was only played on the right scenes and instances. As for the bad part, the movie gives off an amateurish feel. Serious revamps are needed in the dialogue. The acting was a bit off too. There were also countless scenes that we feel were unnecessary and should have gotten the ax. Finally, the pacing at the end was a bit whacked. Everything happened so fast and it also ended abruptly. Overall though, it is a film that 50 Cent fans will enjoy and from what we heard, this comes with the album. So if you have it, you won't definitely waste your time watching this - it is its own entity with or without the album.

Rating: 2.5 reels





Why you should watch it:
- the film has a pretty interesting story
- this is not all action - film tackles a lot of moral and life issues
- soundtrack had a great selection and were played at appropriate times

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- needs more polish when compared to other films
- most acting and dialogue needs revamping
- numerous scenes leaves you wondering why they were even included
- had some pacing problems at its latter parts


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3 Comments

Comments

  1. The script is strange. IAt the end we can hear a sound the pulse, then the sound like he's dead. So he died.
    But at the begining of the film he says: "now imma hunter", and kills that man. When could he do it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The script is strange. At the end we can hear his pulse, then a sound like he's dead. But at the begining of the film he says: "now imma hunter", and kills that man. When could he do it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Part two out soon

    ReplyDelete