What a let down from Curtis Hanson.

Rating: 5/10 (18 March 2003)

I'm a big fan of Curtis Hanson so I was really disappointed with this ho-hum, been there done that formulaic film. It was very well directed, shot, acted, but why bother, it had nothing new to say. The only wrinkle that was remotely intriguing was the rap battles, but even these offered little in the way of suspense, the entire film was so predictable. You easily could have cut from the opening sequence to the end battle and it would have ultimately of had the same impact only without wasting two hours of my life. Eminem does a fine job of playing himself, he pretty much reacts in every scene the same way regardless of what is going on. The film goes to great, and very boring lengths to show what a great guy he is. This movie was fine but had nothing new to say about life on the streets that I have not already seen in dozens of other films.