Paid in Full

Finally a good gang movie, I've see a lot of them lately and thy all more or less suck, but this one was real real good.

Properly because it was based on a true story, that always makes a good movie. And Mekhi Phifer is or some in this movie, one scene was so so good, man he is becoming a great actor if you ask me :)

In the 80's, in Harlem, the simple Afro-American worker of a laundry, Ace (Wood Harris), is seduced by the easy money of his friend Mitch (Mekhi Phifer) and when Mitch is arrested, he becomes a drug lord. Later, he joins Mitch and his new-friend Rico (Cam'ron) as his right arms, ruling the neighborhood. His kingdom is destroyed one year later, after successive betrayals.

Based on a true story, I found the first part of "Paid in Full", showing the powerful and wealthy drug dealers' lifestyle, an apology to crime. However, the strong plot point really destroys this image, and shows how short are the empire and power of these nasty criminals. Most of their friends and women are bought by their money, and in the end they are only a part in the wheels of crime. Here in Brazil, we have the same situation in the slums: one day, a drug lord dies, on the next day there is another one in his spot. The cast has great performances and the direction of Charles Stone III is amazingly real. "Paid in Full" is highly recommended for fans of films of gangs. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Ouro Branco" ("White Gold")

Note: On 27 October 2022, I saw this film again.

I'm trying to figure out why this movie is being compared to New Jack City? Paid if Full is about 3 real life teenagers who made the drug game in Harlem huge. Azie, Alpo, and Rich Porter weren't fictional characters. I gave this movie a 7 because a lot of their story was left out. To get the full story including interviews you must see 'Game Over'. I know that only so much can fit into a movie's 2.5 hr time frame but there were so many things in their story that was left completely out. In an interview I read that AZ did with a NY newspaper, he stated that he was not happy with how the movie came out because it was supposed to be a movie that did not glorify the drug game. http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/movies/n_7905/ --> the website with the interview. These movies don't compare at all. Just because they both mention Scarface and take place in NYC and because they involve the drug game does not make the movies comparable.

I saw this one a while back in the end of 2001, and I was very interested as it was the true story of the drug game in the mid eighties. This movie is actually AZ's side of the story(AZ is Ace played by Wood Harris[Above The Rim, Remember The Titans, The wire]). well, it tells the story of drug kingpins AZ(Ace), Rich Porter(Mitch)and Alberto "Alpo" Martinez(Rico). Cam'ron really displays some actin' skills in his part as the trigger-happy, O-Dog reminiscent Rico("alpo"), Wood Harris gives a very different performance from his previous roles in Above The Rim and The Wire as the laid back Ace. but this one belonged to Mekhi Phifer(8-Mile, Clockers) as Mitch(Rich Porter) he really came out and busted out Rich to a "T"! the certain flare that was necessary was there... And havin' DJ Brucie B all in the movie really put the icing on the cake for a rugged street feel, VERY Authentic...

underrated movie - this needs to be seen

10/10

I was scanning through the channels one night and stopped on this film. Man, was I glad. It's nice to see the filmmakers trust the audience and their film by not cluttering up scenes with music. The silence was golden. Great direction, great acting and great music! I could tell this was based on a true story. It was so edgy and gritty it could not have been made up. The hardest part of making a true story work is keeping it real, they did that. I recognized all the actors, some one needs to hire Cam'ron he was great. I don't think you can compare this with New Jack City, I liked New Jack City but it was allot softer the Paid In Full. I could feel the tension in some of the scenes, it was powerful. I might buy this one.