MY REVIEW ON THE MOVIE
I watched this movie a few days ago, note that since I'm a huge 2pac fan my opinion on the movie may be biased. Jamal Woolard really puts on a brilliant performance as Biggie. Sometimes I did drift off and imagine I was watching Biggie up until the rap scenes came on. Derek Luke as Puffy didn't really work but, I did have to laugh when he did Puffy's dancing. Believe me, he got that spot on if not for anything else.
The story takes the angle of a boy trying to be a man. The message to the audience is that by the time Biggie got to appreciate his kids and family, it was already too late. There is really nothing ground breaking about this movie but its a story about Biggie's life that is told through a different perspective of the rapper we all know about. The movie makes you feel like you can't help but empathize with what Biggie went through from his younger days up until he became famous.
Antonique Smith as Faith Evans looks really gorgeous and plays her supporting role well. I'd love to see her in more movies in the future. Did Faith ever beat anyone up because of sleeping with Biggie? According to the movie well, she did, but not who we all heard got a beat down from her.
The fact that Naturi Naughton (former 3LW member who plays Lil Kim) is good friend with Lil Kim makes me wonder how she agreed to potray Kim the way she did. Well, Puffy really screwed Kim over with the script writing. Her role in this story is one of a girl obsessed with Biggie who just wants to have sex with him. Not to mention that Biggie did give her a style to run with as a rapper.
We do get some insight into what studio sessions were like with Biggie and it does make for interesting viewing. Puffy makes himself look like a visionary for making 'juicy' the hit that it was. Not enough is put into this movie and not enough is put into Biggie's lauded rap battles that took place on the streets of Brooklyn.
When Anthony Mackie plays 2pac, he just plays his part in the movie, you dont really feel 2pac's presence as the person he was. The infamous shooting of 2pac at the studio is played out in a different way when compared to the way 2pac told the story. The story tells us that 2pac was warned by Biggie about hanging out with the wrong company. By the time the whole beef started between them, Puffy and Biggie were never interested in fueling the beef with 2pac. 2pac just kept coming at them. The mystery behind the song 'who shot ya' is also addressed in this movie.
We witness Biggie's shock and sadness at the time 2pac was shot in Vegas when he hears about it on the news. At this point of the movie, Puffy's character has mysteriously disappeared from the screen and we don't get to know what his reaction was to this was.
The story in the movie is not gripping enough and there are plenty of bits which pretty much dragged on. You may wonder at some point 'when do we get to the final scene'? The movie totally skips out the fact that Biggie recorded two songs (I think, they may have been more) with Michael Jackson (regardless of what some of you may think, the King of Pop). How do you forget to mention that in a biopic? We don't even get to see studio session of the duet 2pac and Biggie recorded together. Nothing on what went on while Biggie filmed his last music video ever. It lacks heavily on many aspects of Biggie's career.
Naturi Naughton does have nice breasts

. If you're going to watch the movie for anything you haven't seeing before, she's a good reason.
Overall, I'd give the movie a 4 out of 10. I'd give it a 5 out of 10, but during the pictorial ending credits, Puffy's character is credited before Biggie's. Why this is done, I have no idea. -1