Finally, a movie with a music star that's not just not bad, it's actually very good.

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2002)

The entire cast and crew did such an excellent job with this movie that it could have easily been the best movie of the year if Scott Silver's script hadn't messed up a thing or two here and there. Finally, a movie with a music star that's not just not bad, it's actually very good.
The discussion first starts with, who else, Eminem. He has come under some scrutiny because he is playing a character that is very loosely based on himself. Because of this, everyone seems ready to brush off his performance as either "ok," or, "pretty good." There are two big things that disturb me about that. First, didn't Adam Sandler just get heaps of praise for playing a slight deviation from his normal characters in Punch-Drunk Love? Many seemed to think that it was the best performance of the year. And second, and most importantly, if anyone can name me just one other person - actor, director, music star, or anything else - that could have played Rabbit, please, let me know. There is not a rapper with as much talent in his lyrics or his rhymes as Eminem, so there is not another soul on this planet that could have played Rabbit (and if anyone E-Mail's me with the suggestion that Vanilla Ice could have done it, please, go find some help for yourself). Because of all this, Eminem gives one of the best performances this year. He is emotionally charged and you can tell that without him this would have been a bad movie. I don't know if it's because he's one of the biggest music stars in the world or something else, but he has a screen presence that is huge and magnetic.
The rest of the cast holds their own. Mekhi Phifer is easily the standout as Future, Rabbit's best friend. I didn't know much about Phifer before this movie, but he is definitely a promising talent. He never tries to take over a scene from Eminem; he knows he is on the side to play Rabbit's best friend and advisor. The women in the movie are played down quite a bit. Basinger who last won an Oscar when working with director Curtis Hanson, won't be getting one this time around, but she does what she can with her screen time. We love and hate her as Rabbit's mother and I think that she does a good job of playing the typical trailer mom. A lot of critics seemed to think she was too beautiful to play the character. This is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Are these people honestly saying that there are no good looking people at all in trailers? Obviously, since all the rich higher class people are so beautiful. The other major female role is Rabbit's girlfriend, Alex, played by Brittany Murphy. Honestly, I'm as familiar with Murphy as I am with Phifer. Her character was the weakest one out of the bunch. We never got to know her at all, and I don't know if it's even correct to call her Rabbit's girlfriend. All they did was fool around once and we are expected to like her and take her words of wisdom to heart. Note to Scott Silver: don't put in a love interest just because you think there should be a love interest in the movie. Murphy herself is attractive, but not much more. She doesn't get to test her acting chops as much as she may have liked to.
Now, the movie itself has some scenes that will blow you away. The very beginning is one of the best opening sequences I've ever seen. The very first shots show Rabbit standing in front of a mirror preparing for a battle. He looks at himself as if his reflection is the enemy, he makes fierce rapping hand gestures at himself and goes through all the lyrics he can think of in his head - analogous of a boxer waiting in the wings before a fight. The battles are all incredible; a battle is a duel between rappers where they each get 45 seconds to trade insults. In the end, the winner is judged by the roar from the crowd. The battles are easily the highlight of the movie because of their originality and their capability to take the movie onto another level all together. There are official battles hosted by Future and everyday battles at work or on the street, both of which work in their own ways. It is incredible how these insult trading sessions of freestyle rap can completely engulf you into the world of 1995 Detroit. I immediately understood that these insults were not personal, that they were a way of fighting without physically beating the hell out of each other (though there is a decent bit of that too outside of the battles). Every time Rabbit was one of the performers the energy just shot though the roof and my eyes and ears were at full alert. There is one scene in particular during a lunch break at Rabbit's job where a girl raps about the hardships and unfair treatment they get at their job. A man responds and puts her down, seemingly winning the battle before Rabbit steps in and puts him in his place. And then there is the final battle; it definitely does not disappoint. Each rapper gets a 90 seconds and Rabbit gets to go first. He tells the crowd everything that his opponent is going to say about him from white jokes to cracks about living in a trailer with his mom, and then he goes on to decimate away his opponent and his entire gang.
Another vital element of this movie is the settings. Hanson wisely chose to shoot in Detroit rather than cut costs and go across the border into Canada. Hanson now has an even more impressive resume adding 8 Mile to L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys, and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. The eerie run down image of 1995 Detroit is both realistic and visually wonderful. Hanson has always been known for being able to capture the essence of a large city well with Pittsburgh and L.A. being the settings for his last two movies. Will someone just give this man an award? He is one of the most consistently brilliant directors right now but his commercial draw is almost irrelevant, especially when compared to names like Soderbergh or Shyamalan. Though he is a less impressive screenwriter (what was he thinking with A Knight's Tale?), no one can question his talent as a director.
For 8 Mile, although the script seemed to be left up to Eminem for the most important exchanges, Silver had a good message at heart. Instead of having the typical rags to riches story, he instead takes the approach of showing a young man who is going to work through his hardships and earn enough money to make it big himself without some multi-million dollar record deal coming out of the blue. After the final battle Rabbit goes back to his job where he has worked hard to earn extra shifts and make more money. In a sense it's anti-climactic, but it is abrupt and doesn't dwell on itself for long enough to bring the movie down from it's climax. Instead, it strikes the right tone as the movie fades out to the best song of the year (for a movie or otherwise) "Lose Yourself." I don't think a song has ever captured an entire movie and it's themes as well as "Lose Yourself," and there may never be another song quite like it. Will Eminem get an invite to the Oscars? Don't bet on it, but it's not like the Academy ever gets it right anyways.
As I left this movie I felt myself wanting to go to a real life battle, and if I weren't fearful for my life I may have done that. I got the same feeling coming out of 8 Mile as I did coming out of The Legend of Bagger Vance. Coming out of the latter, I wanted nothing more than to go play golf all alone on a beautiful serene golf course. Coming out of the former I wanted to be Rabbit - a poet from the ghetto who can work magic with his lyrics off the top of his head.