Before I Self Destruct

Aspiring basketball player Clarence suffers an injury that puts paid to any hopes of sporting fame . Taking a dead end job in a grocery store he finds that living in the ghetto involves survival of the fittest and finds himself being dragged in to a life of crime

I've got to confess here and now that I am not a rap fan . Most of my music collection is dominated by Celtic artists like U2 , Simple Minds and The Beta Band so I came in to BEFORE I SELF DESTRUICT with the view of watching it as a film in its own right rather than as some star vehicle for 50 Cent . The fact that the credits read that it's produced , written and directed by Curtis Jackson , the real name of 50 Cent perhaps tells you something

The story starts with setting up the backstory of the home life and family background of Clarence who is brought up by his single mother and has an academically gifted 13 year old brother . Right away I thought I'd be watching a subtle feel good cinema verite style movie where Clarence becomes a role model to his brother while struggling against a brutal environment and what the film does very well for the first third is portraying the American inner city as a bleak nihilistic place without over doing it

Then unfortunately the film blows it by having an inciting incident that takes the film in a new direction . This incident isn't exactly unexpected or shocking but it means Clarence starts becoming an entirely different character to the one we were introduced to at the start of the film and as you might expect the soundtrack becomes more prominent as if the film is trying to sell some tracks by 50 Cent . The ending is also so abrupt you'd think Jackson ran out of money before shooting was completed

There's also an aspect that's already been mentioned on this page and that is the acting is rather poor . There's different kinds of poor acting in cinema . Loud OTT acting personified by the ham acting of Steven Berkoff and the opposite type of bad acting seen here - wooden acting . It's not so bad in the early stages of the film because you can get away with it in a realist drama to a small extent and claim it's naturalistic but when the film becomes more plot driven it becomes more noticeable and annoying , but I guess if you're trying to sell records then Jackson wasn't concerned too much about the cast

I usually like to state the positive prior to the negative. This flic had so little production value that I am at a loss for props. Music tracks deserve ups. The fact that he did not make it "autobiographical" deserves ups. I have seen many community college media department films that scored better production points. Script, Acting, Cinematography, Lighting, Music fades and placement... all at "student" level. Not just bashing Mr. Jackson. I have deep appreciation and respect for his part in his audio artistic efforts. The overall concept of the story was not that bad either but I must say that for such a successful/talented audio artist, this film was a disgrace.

This movie is a great hood classic. It follows in the line of I'm bout it, and other hood tales. 50 cent and Clifton Powell on screen interaction was pure magic. The young man that played Chaka was talented as well. The movie was funny, heartfelt and painful all at the same time. My favorite line is "the insurance business." 50 cent is definitely a visionary and very talented businessman. This movie is a must see!! 4 stars out of 4!!!! The accompanying album is a masterpiece as well. To all the 50 cent haters, go get a job and/or a life because this movie is the truth. Support hood films and quit hating. The latino girlfriend with the face of an angel and the heart of snake was simply terrifying. Please 50 make a sequel. You are the next Rudy Ray Moore!

Recently watched this movie on youtube. So many times i wanted to turn it off because it was so bad, but it was so bad I couldn't turn away if that makes any sense. The acting at times was quite comical but I've seen worse. 50 Cent's acting has improved since "Get Rich or Die Trying". However that's not saying much as he can still seem a bit stiff and often times can come across as being "robotic" in some scenes.

The "kill" scenes are pretty authentic and brutal. The story is basic but lacks depth. I've seen worse street movies than this (Belly 2). I will commend 50 Cent for directing/writing/acting in this movie. It's hard work and for a debut in directing/writing, he did pretty well. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, but if your a fan of 50 Cent and G Unit, then feel free to check it out.

4.5/10

I'm far from a 50 Cent fan but I was overall pretty impressed with this movie. It's a very standard hood/crime drama that doesn't exactly break much, if any new ground. There's lots of macho posturing and blood and even a gratuitous girl on girl scene. The plot kind of stagnates towards the middle of the film but still is able to stay interesting.

The acting is one of the more surprised positive aspects. Curtis is average-solid as usual but Clifton Powell really knocks it out of the park and none of the supporting cast is bad enough to ruin the movie, which is usually the case with similar movies.

If you're a fan of the genre it's worth taking a look at if its on Showtime or maybe even for a rental if you're also a 50 fan.