Generally am somebody who dislikes rap, being a diverse listener of music while raised primarily on classical and opera as a result of coming from a musical family. However, once in a while there are rap/hip hop figures that are talented and have music that is more than tolerable for rap.
One such example is Christopher "Notorious B.I.G" Wallace, whose life was documented in the 2009 film 'Notorious', which did have issues but there were things such as the brilliant performance of Jamal Woolward that made it watchable. Another example is Tupac, whose life is documented here in 2017's 'All Eyez on Me'. 'All Eyez On Me' could have been good, for somebody who did have an interesting life. Unfortunately it really does fail to do this artist and his life justice.
'All Eyez on Me' isn't without redeeming values. Its best asset, and the only outstanding thing about it, is the lead performance of Demetrius Shipp Jr, who perfected Tupac's look and mannerisms to startling effect. The cast were largely miss, but there were a couple of hits in the form of Jamal Woolward, again as Notorious B.I.G, and particularly Kat Graham who really tries to give some heart to the film and to her scenes with Shipp Jnr.
However, 'All Eyez On Me' goes on for far too long (have sat through many long films and there are a lot that are brilliant, such as 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'Ben Hur' and 'Gone With the Wind) and such a length isn't justified by how little it does with its content. It does try to cram in too much, some of it in a short space of time, and doesn't explore any of it in enough detail. Some scenes were random and unnecessary, succeeding in slowing the film down and making one question why they were there in the first place.
With the information given in 'All Eyez On Me', it all felt like a series of bullet points, explored in cliff-notes form at best and at worst telling us nothing. Didn't care for the idea to spell out Tupac's every thought when it once again tells us little, as one can see 'All Eyez On Me' is very short on revelations or anything new (which is misleading as it was advertised in a way that it would tell us something new and un-told) which is frustrating and feels like a cheat for fans. Some of it, especially the scenes detailing Tupac's relationship with Jada, felt like the truth had been distorted for dramatic effect/license.
Didn't see the need for the narration either in filmed interview form, that was very clumsily inserted and basically spoon-fed events with no subtlety whatsoever. Amateur hour Youtube and music videos have better production values than here, and while the music was good a lot of the placing was random. It's all poorly scripted, flatly directed and whose bright idea was it to bring in performers and such as themselves and not give them anything to do.
In conclusion, Tupac deserved better, in no way does 'All Eyez On Me', despite Shipp Jnr and Graham's valiant efforts, do the man and his very interesting (which couldn't have been less compellingly depicted here) life justice. 2/10 Bethany Cox
