A Disjointed Narrative and a Long Runtime Keep "All Eyez On Me" From Being Great, Rather than Good

   When Straight Outta Compton dropped a couple of years ago, I don't know if it was expected to be as good as it was. The drive, passion, and compelling storytelling in that film lifted it above the mediocre docudrama that most people expected it to be. It is in no way a perfect movie, but it maintained a level of entertainment amidst the narrative. All Eyez On Me, the new biographical drama about one of the most prolific rappers in history Tupac Shakur, holds none of those variables that made Straight Outta Compton great. The movie is by and large an attempt to tell the true story about a man who influenced the rap world like no other, but does so in a drawn out, choppy narrative that ultimately falls short of being great.

   I will be completely transparent here, I never listened to rap growing up. I knew who Tupac was, and I knew of MTV and what not, but my social sphere never incorporated that genre of music. Not having that background knowledge going into watching movies like Straight Outta Compton and All Eyez On Me allows for a different perspective. I don't have anything to base the movie on, other than its merits as a film. Whether or not the events portrayed in the film happened in the way that they were portrayed is beyond me. As a piece of entertainment, All Eyez On Me suffers mostly from its length. The movie is just under two and a half hours long, and you feel every minute of it. The movie follows the events of Tupac's life, his journey into stardom, his social and political issues, all leading up to his death. All of these events play out like a series of vignettes as seen through flash backs while Tupac is being interviewed in prison during present time. This makes the movie as a whole feel choppy and disjointed at times, so much so that when the movie catches up with itself timewise, the stakes aren't really that high. By the time the movie ends, it feels as though you had been watching a TV special about Tupac, only there was no narrator to carry you through.

   The premise though is intriguing, and given the current state of the world today, some of the messages that this movie discusses seem very relevant. That's probably the best point of the film in my book. The story of Tupac is bigger than just one man, and the movie does a great job at filling out those issues. The irony is those moments are what help drag the run time for this movie to a length that seemed unnecessary. Honestly I think a good twenty to thirty minutes could be shaved from this movie and it would still work and be effective. The broken narrative really disrupts the opportunity to build up a solid arc. Director Benny Boom - who's previous work consists of mostly music videos, TV episodes and movies - blends the social aspects of the music industry with the political ramifications of racism and at times they seem to blend well. But again, it just felt too disjointed.

   All of that said, it doesn't take away from the fact that Tupac was one of the most polarizing and influential people of our day. You can tell that the movie strives to be true to the character and the story with the level of time it takes to flesh everything out. Demetrius Shipp Jr. does a pretty good job as Tupac, and even though at times his acting felt a bit over the top, for the most part you were able to gain a sense of who this man was and what he was going through in his life. As a film, All Eyez On Me is just, okay. It's not without its flaws, but it also delivers some good performances from actors like Shipp Jr, Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, and a host of other supporting players. The movie was good, but it wasn't great. If you're thinking about seeing it, catch a matinee.