Vingança Total (2002)

A young man from Harlem, forced to cope with the 1980s drug scene, builds an illegal empire, only to have a crisis of conscience.

Director:

Charles Stone III

Writers:

Azie Faison Jr. (earlier screenplay), Austin Phillips (earlier screenplay)

Stars:

Mekhi Phifer, Wood Harris, Chi McBride

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Wood Harris	...	Ace
Mekhi Phifer	...	Mitch
Kevin Carroll	...	Calvin
Esai Morales	...	Lulu
Chi McBride	...	Pip
Cam'ron	...	Rico
Remo Greene	...	Sonny
Cynthia Martells	...	Dora
Elise Neal	...	Aunt June
Regina Hall	...	Kiesha
Joyce Walker	...	Janet Woods (as Joyce Walker Joseph)
Ron Cephas Jones	...	Ice
Nelson Tynes	...	Wedge
Karen Andrew	...	Cakes
Pedro Salvín	...	Columbian Man #1 (as Pedro Salvin)

Storyline

Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.

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Plot Keywords:

hood | ghetto | restaurant | n word | fast food restaurant | 

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Taglines:

The American Dream... Their way.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, pervasive language, some strong sexuality and drug content

Did You Know?

Trivia

In interviews, Azie Faison Jr., the real life Ace, has repeatedly accused Damon Dash, the film's producer of massively altering and watering down the script for "Paid in Full". According to Faison, the original version presented to Dash was a cautionary anti-drugs tale and social commentary on the destruction drugs have wrought on the black community. Faison has stated that the end result was merely a marketing tool for Dash to promote Cam'Ron a (then) recent arrival to Dash's recording label, Rocafella Records. The rewritten script compresses over 7 years of events into 12 months. Ace is shown becoming a dealer in 1986 but this happened in 1983 after seeing Scarface - A Força do Poder (1983) and the later events which led to the downfall of all three major characters transpired between late 1989 and 1992.

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Goofs

When Mitch and Ace are talking in the red BMW if you look at the background as they are driving by you can see what appears to be a 90s model Ford Explorer and also a second generation Nissan Pathfinder in front of it.

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Quotes

Mitch: A nigga like me man, I love the game. I love the hustle. Man I be feeling like one of them ball player niggas, you know? Like Bird, Magic or something. Yeah you know a nigga got dough, a nigga can leave the league... But if I leave... the fans still gon' love me man? I get love out here in Harlem man, I done sold coke on these streets, man, hash, weed, heroine. As long as niggas is feelin' it, a nigga like me can hustle it. That's my gift in life A... you know?

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Hood Movies (2014)

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Soundtracks

Dark Vibe
Written by Al Cohen
(Rebekah M. Music ASCAP)
Courtesy of ACM Records

User Reviews

Wow, what a great film!!!

I was scanning through the channels one night and stopped on this film. Man, was I glad. It's nice to see the filmmakers trust the audience and their film by not cluttering up scenes with music. The silence was golden. Great direction, great acting and great music! I could tell this was based on a true story. It was so edgy and gritty it could not have been made up. The hardest part of making a true story work is keeping it real, they did that. I recognized all the actors, some one needs to hire Cam'ron he was great. I don't think you can compare this with New Jack City, I liked New Jack City but it was allot softer the Paid In Full. I could feel the tension in some of the scenes, it was powerful. I might buy this one.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vingança Total

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,328,789, 27 October 2002

Gross USA:

$3,090,862

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,116,526

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Loud Films, Rat Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1