Réussir ou mourir

The film is supposedly a biographical account of 50 cents own life. I am sure a lot of artistic liberties has been taken and then some more.

It is well directed, well acted, has lots of violence, swearing, rap music and there is some tenderness as well.

It's another story of someone who ends up on the wrong side of the tracks, gets in with some hoodlums, ends in jail and finds redemption through music.

If you do not like rap music it is not for you. 50 Cents does OK in the lead role but he surrounds himself with a good supporting cast and a sure- footed director.

Marcus lives with his loving but drug dealing mother. After she gets murdered in a drug deal, Marcus is brought into the life by drug-lord Levar (Bill Duke) and his associate Majestic (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). He lives with his grandmother (Viola Davis) and grandfather (Sullivan Walker). As a teen, Marcus (50 Cent) gets arrested and quits school as he climbs the drug business. He writes his raps on the side and reunites with childhood love Charlene (Joy Bryant). He gets thrown in prison where Bama (Terrence Howard) saves him in a prison fight. Meanwhile Majestic sets up Levar in a cop killing and takes over the gang. Marcus gets out of prison and leaves the gang to pursue rapping with Bama as his manager. He refuses to sign with Majestic and gets shut out of the industry. Bama convinces him to rob a drug dealer.

50 is not a good actor. He's never going to get an acting award. He does have a natural understated charm which does come across on the screen. It's not the most original story but it's compelling enough. It has little insights like comparing drug dealing on the street corner to a minimum pay jobs. There is also an authenticity to the performance and getting the character shot 9 times is a little reminder. It doesn't have the intensity or the drama of 8 Mile but it's still a functional familiar story despite hitting some slow spots.

This movie is unbelievably underrated. Yes, the acting isn't great at all times but it works. It has a great plot, a great script and most importantly GREAT MUSIC

I don't see why everyone has such a problem with this movie - I thought it was okay, it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, and it didn't have the best acting ever, but it certainly wasn't the worst movie ever.

The ending wasn't too good, but the movie wasn't too shabby, the storyline was good and it proved to keep me entertained for the full two hours. I learnt a lot about 50 cent during the movie, even though I'm not a fan of rap and/or 50 cent himself, I still enjoyed it.

The movie gives you inspiration, if 50 cent can go through a lot and come out of it a billion dollar rapper at the end, it makes you think that you could probably do something on the same level.

You don't have to like rap and/or 50 cent to enjoy this movie and read into it. If you enjoyed the trailer, don't let the bad reviews put you off, that's what I did, yet I liked the movie.

I liked this movie because I thought 50 cent did a fairly good job acting being that it was his first movie, but he does need to improve his acting a bit more. I thought the story had holes in it because it did not show enough detail of how he developed as a rapper. He just went from drug dealer to rapper. There needed to be some progress between the two lifestyles because it is usually a struggle to become a good rapper. It would have been a better story if it showed how 50 really went from drug dealer to rapper. He met Jam master Jay of Run DMC who taught him how to rap. Anyway it is a good story because of the fact that it shows how it is in the inner city is educational to people who are blind to this kind of struggle and it shows him being able to get out the hood to pursue his dream. This will inspire young people in that position to do the same, maybe not with rap, but with their God-given talents.