Irish director Jim Sheridan of My Left foot fame now turns his hand to the biopic of highly successful American gangster rapper 50 Cent in Get Rich or Die Trying . This semi autobiographical story begins with a robbery gone bad and gang leader Marcus -Curtis 50 Cent Jackson lies bleeding in the street, his life flashes back across the screen. As with so many ghetto lives there is an absent father and his mother is making ends meet by selling drugs. When she is murdered Marcus leaves his only passion, rapping behind and turns to a life of drug dealing. Ultimately ending up in jail he is transformed through his relationship with Bama -Terrence Howard and his passion for music is reawakened. On his release his shady business partners in particular drug kingpin Levar - Bill Duke are not that keen on him becoming a rapper.
Awash in a sea of cliches Get Rich or Die Trying appears to be more of a vanity project than an authentic portrayal of a rags to rapper tale. If I were to say that 50 Cent\'s acting was one dimensional then I would be admitting that he can act. Virtually all the characters in this film are stereo types from 70\'s black exploitation genre, the most laughable, Levar the drug lord doing a bad impersonation of Brando in The Godfather. If director Sheridan was trying to highlight social injustice he has certainly lost his way inadvertently glamourising thug life. Maybe instead of getting rich Cutis could have thought about keeping it real.
