I've never had much care for hip-hop music and rap. The stuff my friends listened to sort of bored me or made me outright sick. The entire genre seems to be immersed in violent imagery, so it is never a surprise to me that the writers of such music behave in an aggressive and angry fashion. They talk big all the time, it seems to be the name of the game. So I was actually sort of excited by the prospect of a "gansta rap slasher" film, I would love to see how tough they really are. So I watched it.
It starts off strong. A vicious killing, a collection of friends who are suddenly all suspiciously culpable, and millions of dollars up in the air.
From there it sets itself into a gentle rhythm: All the friends get together and talk smack, until one wonders off and gets killed. Then more smack, more kill, rinse and repeat.
It's been done a million times a million different ways, and this one brings the color (har har, pun intended) of the rapper lifestyle into the mix. That's where the usual clichés make a turnabout. They don't trust the police, they use incredibly racist and crass language, most of it street talk you can barely comprehend, etc. Surprisingly, they did not all have loaded guns stuffed down their shorts! It all goes black (oh man! The puns!) and they slowly start to realize people are missing.
As it turns out, rappers die like everyone else. Perhaps even a little easier, since the killing blows seemed to all happen pretty quick and without too much fuss. This is not a gore fest, it's more of a murder mystery. One aspect I found fairly interesting is that there doesn't seem to be any real protagonist in the film. You don't know who's going to live to the end until you get there, all of the characters seem to be equally important. It leaves you unable to really latch onto anyone as a likable character.
But I do give them credit for bringing their own styles to this film. They all seemed very natural in their parts. While this particular movie was not really well produced, I think the idea is worthy of another shot. Better filming, a more cohesive and believable storyline and I think this could be really great.
For now, it's just OK.
