Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (film)
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''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' is a 2005 American
crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
film written by Terence Winter and directed by Jim Sheridan. It stars
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...
in his feature film acting debut, alongside
Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films ''Dead Presidents'' and '' Mr. Holland's Opus'', Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles ...
,
Joy Bryant Joy Bryant is an American actress, businesswoman and fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films and television since beginning her acting career in 2001. She has received two NAACP Image Award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award ...
,
Bill Duke William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor and film director. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement. Frequently ...
,
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (, ; born 22 August 1967) is an English actor, director, and former fashion model known for his roles as Lock-Nah in ''The Mummy Returns'', Nykwana Wombosi in '' The Bourne Identity'', Heavy Duty in '' G.I. Joe: The R ...
,
Omar Benson Miller Omar Benson Miller (born October 7, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for his work as Walter Simmons on '' CSI: Miami'' (2009–2012), as Charles Greane on ''Ballers'' (2015–2019), as the voice of Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urb ...
, Ashley Walters and
Viola Davis Viola Davis (; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, she is the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crow ...
. The film, which contains autobiographical elements from 50 Cent's life, follows his character, Marcus Greer, a drug dealer who turns away from his criminal life to pursue his passion of rap music. The film's title is shared with 50 Cent's 2003 debut album of the same name. Plans for a film starring 50 Cent were revealed in 2004, following the success of the ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' album. It was known during production as ''Locked and Loaded''. Similar to the 2002 film '' 8 Mile'' starring
Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...
, which it used as a template,''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' film review - Radio Times
/ref> the film took inspiration from 50 Cent's childhood experiences as a drug dealer. Filming began on April 11, 2005 and ended in June of that same year. The filming locations included
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
(in Toronto & Wasaga Beach) and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
(in Bray & Dublin). Originally scheduled for a 2006 release, ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' had its world premiere at the
Grauman's Chinese Theater Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chinese T ...
in Hollywood on November 2, 2005 and was released in the United States one week later. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $46.4 million at the box office on a budget of $40 million.


Plot

Marcus is a quiet boy who adores his mother Katrina, and the two live a relatively comfortable life on her drug-dealing income. After Marcus writes a song for his love interest Charlene, her stepfather sends her away to live with her grandparents. Meanwhile, Marcus's mother is murdered, and Marcus has to live with his grandparents full-time. Marcus turns to selling drugs in order to buy new shoes, and as he grows older, he eventually abandons high school to sell drugs for local kingpin, Levar, and his underling, Majestic. Years later, Marcus reunites with Charlene and the two become intimate. One of his close friends, Antwan, is shot and paralyzed at a club by a Colombian named Raul. In retaliation, Marcus attacks Raul, but stops short of murdering him and instead shoots Raul in the legs multiple times as payback for Antwan. When Raul refuses to identify Marcus as the shooter in a police line-up, he is allowed to go free. However, cops raid his house after an anonymous tip and find a gun and drugs. Marcus is sent to prison, where he befriends another inmate named Bama. Meanwhile, Majestic makes his move to seize control of the local drug trade. He sets Levar up to go to prison, and then frames Levar's second-in-command Odell for it. After publicly torturing and murdering Odell, Majestic then takes over Levar's empire as the new kingpin. After encouragement from Bama, Marcus leaves the drug trade behind to pursue and fulfill his lifelong dream of being a rapper, calling himself Young Caesar, with Bama as his manager and producer. After Marcus gets out of prison, Majestic invites him to become his right-hand man, but Marcus tells him of his aspirations to being a rapper, which Majestic laughs off. Marcus leaves with Bama and takes Justice with him. Justice and Bama initially have a clash of personalities, but Marcus calms them after a roadside stop. Unconvinced of Marcus's dream, Justice informs Majestic of his activities. As Marcus more seriously pursues music, Majestic uses threats and his power to try to stop his success. Marcus retaliates by taunting Majestic in his songs, and Majestic targets Marcus for death. Despite Marcus's insistence at avoiding crime, Bama convinces him to carry out one last robbery on a Colombian safe house. After Marcus and his crew complete the robbery, Marcus is shot outside of his home by Justice, but is saved by his grandparents. After being hospitalized, he goes through a period of self-loathing and pity before reevaluating his life and prioritizing his family. After a long and painful recovery, he records music again. Angered with Justice's failure to kill Marcus, Majestic kills Justice. Marcus meets with Levar in prison, who remorsefully reveals that he is Marcus's biological father and regrets not being there for him and his mother to protect them. At Marcus's concert debut, Majestic shows up with his goons and tries to intimidate Marcus as he goes on stage. Majestic reveals that he killed Marcus's mother years earlier for spurning his affections. Marcus attacks Majestic in rage but before he can kill Majestic, Bama persuades him to start the show, urging him think about his family. As Marcus starts to walk out on stage, Majestic tries to stab him, but Bama shoots Majestic. Majestic begs for Marcus to kill him, but Marcus refuses. As he walks out towards the crowd, Bama shoots Majestic again, killing him. Marcus steps onto the stage, removes his bulletproof vest and performs "
Hustler's Ambition "Hustler's Ambition" is a song by American rapper 50 Cent. Written by 50 Cent and produced by B-Money "B$", the song was released as the first single from the soundtrack to the film ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' (2005). Built around a soul–influen ...
".


Cast


Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on November 8, 2005. In December 2005, the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) certified the album
platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...
. The album has so far sold over 3 million copies worldwide.


Controversy

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
publicly turned down an offer to co-star in the film, citing that he did not want to lend credence to what he believed was an inexperienced and unproven actor. Film critic
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
wrote that Jackson may be "arguing against the anti-intellectual message that success for young black males is better sought in the worlds of rapping and sports than in the classroom." Jackson and 50 Cent later co-starred in the 2006 film '' Home of the Brave''.


Reception

''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' holds a 16% approval rating at
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based upon 117 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "While it may be based upon 50 Cent's own life experiences, ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' is too similar to many other rags-to-riches stories to resonate." ''
Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' criticized the film, saying that "as a vehicle for hip-hop superstar Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, this
ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...
runs out of gas a fair few kilometres short", giving it a "could be worse" rating of 2/5 stars. CinePassion stated that " imSheridan's surface vividness is applied around a vacuum." '' FilmFocus'' said that the film's "real danger is that it sets a precedent for the director; if the price is right he's on board". The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
was not entirely impressed with the film, saying that "while it boasts a first-class director and is loosely based on the rapper's own life-story, the results leave you feeling a little short-changed". Jonathan Ross gave a positive review, calling ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' "gripping" and suggesting that it had "excellent performances".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
also praised the film, giving the film a 3 out of 4 rating and saying that it was "a film with a rich and convincing texture, a drama with power and anger". In retrospect, Director Jim Sheridan, said: “''Get Rich'' came out the wrong way. I thought 'I can do this.' I'm there directing 50 Cent and he's looking blank, and I'm thinking 'this is great. The American audience will get this. When they look at John Wayne and his face is blank, they know exactly what he's thinking. So I'm thinking 'this is like John Wayne.' I was wrong.“ He also added: "When you look at 50 Cent and his face is blank you go 'what ... is he thinking?' He's not John Wayne. My empathy tripped me up. I got it, so I assumed the audience would. They didn't." Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade "A−" on an A+ to F scale. ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' grossed $12,020,807 in its opening weekend. Altogether, the film grossed $46,442,528 in total worldwide.


Home media

''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' was first released on DVD on March 28, 2006. It was later released on Blu-ray.


See also

* '' 8 Mile'' * '' Notorious'' * ''
All Eyez on Me ''All Eyez on Me'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac and the last to be released during his lifetime. Released on February 13, 1996, by Death Row and Interscope Records, the album features guest appearances from Dr. Dre, Sno ...
'' *
List of hood films This is a list of hood films – films focusing on the culture and life of African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and/or in some cases, Asian Americans living in segregated, low-income urban communities, as well as comparably deprived and crime-ri ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (Film) 2005 films 2005 crime drama films American coming-of-age films American crime drama films 2000s English-language films Films about African-American organized crime Films scored by Quincy Jones Films directed by Jim Sheridan Films set in New York City 2000s hip hop films Hood films MTV Films films Paramount Pictures films African-American films African-American biographical dramas 2000s American films