8 Mile (DVD 2003)

Ah, a movie starring a music star, never something that invties feelings of joy and anticipation (Glitter, anyone?). What we have here, however, is not a badly written, directed and acted pop song vehicle. Instead, 8 Mile is an extremely well written, well directed and well acted (yes, well acted) piece of film-making.
Like him or loathe him, his lyrics or whatever, Eminem is an undeniable presence in today's world, no matter what people like Tipper Gore in the US would have you think. He is also a good actor, at least when he is not required to stretch himself. Here he plays moody, resentful ands angry, all parts of his natural personality as it appears in public. I mean, this is man who wrote 'Stan'. But he can act, that is a fact. His persona has been watered down for the movie (or beefed up for Slim Shady, whichever you prefer). Here he is not homophobic (he even defends a gay man in a rap sparring battle at work), he is not a gangster (he gets beaten up by them), he is, despite his group of friends, pretty alone. He is prone to bursts of random and ferocious violence and temper tantrums. Okay, so you still sometimes see him as a rap star with somewhat objectionable views rather than the character he plays, but that's not the point. Overall, Jimmy Smith Jnr. is a pretty well drawn character, definitely not 100% likeable, but not wholly unsympathetic either.

After he chokes in the opening scene of the movie, a rap battle where rappers spar with each other, producing ingenious slices of rhyme, he is booed and ridiculed by all but his four friends and Alex (Brittany Murphy), a girl he meets. This is not a totally happy movie, it deals with a bleak landscape and bleaker lives, people stuck where they are because they can't bring themselves to leave, caught in a cycle of violence. That said, it provides a superb climax, when Jimmy (Eminem) enters a rap battle again in order to win out over the gang who have abused and beaten him. Here Eminem's verbal skills come into their own, and come the final, he owns the crowd. To the reviewer who took the moral high ground and said that this movie should never be compared to 'Rocky', due to the immoral nature of it's star, why is a man stringing together rhymes to overcome adversity worse than a man who is paid to beat another man into a pulp? The character Jimmy goes after in the final battle is ridiculed for reasons this reviewer saw as commendable, but the character is a violent, murderous bully who was threatening to kill Jimmy earlier in the movie, so why stand up for him? This is a movie about the underdog, and it has the likes of Rocky on the ropes from the word go.

You may not like Marshall Mathers III and his views on race sexuality and women, but for now, that's not the point. Yes, the movie is violent and full of swearing, but so are Scorsese movies, and he's hailed as a genius. Yes, the female characters are not held up as role models for young girls, but Alex does at least show her support and affection for Jimmy in spite of what happens. To conclude, you should watch 8 Mile, not because it's got Eminem in it, but because it is a very good movie.