Just got out.
Let me just say,people concerned about this being some kind of hit piece or disrespectful to 2pac can put that to bed.
This is absolutely not that. The movie is respectful of the man and his legacy. The way they handled the rape charges and the events of how it happened made clear of that.
However,this is a paint by numbers biopic. This isn't going to blow you away,and it's not breaking molds.
The film is perfunctory and point by point of his life.
It's not a deep dissection of the man. It simply takes from event to event as a recap
Shipp is great. He looks like the man,had the mannerisms down and loses himself in the role.
The film even went a couple places I was genuinely surprised by touching on snoop/2pac beef at the end. Or his relationship with kidada.
There is a couple of eye rolling parts. The omission of the dre beef is strange. Suge is once again painted as a one note villain with no sides to him.
The acting and budget is fine,they recreate some scenes very faithfully. The jada/2pac relationship is a highlight of the film.
Where the film struggles is taking a deeper look into the man himself. He feels like a passenger at times. There's no real examination of the man which is a let down.
This doesn't deserve the bad reviews it's getting,and most people will enjoy it.
Hardcore hip hop fans will find things to cling to and rip apart because we know the history so well,just like SOC.
Overall it's a solid film,nothing amazing. I'll buy it once it drops.
That said I would love to see a more talented film maker get to tackle 2pac. Not a recap of his life,but maybe focusing on one time period.
It never hits the highs that the first hour of SOC hit,but it's better than notorious.
7.5/10