Biggie & Tupac DVD REVIEW

Biggie & Tupac: C+

I recall reading the stories in the LA Times in September, I believe ... relating to new evidence found in the murders of Tupac and Biggie ... the story pretty much implicated LAPD and gangs ... and well, to me, it added more questions to the stories that must lie behind the shootings of these men within six months of each other now close to seven years ago

I was interested in seeing this movie at the theatres, it actually made a short run here in Hawaii of about two or three weeks over at Art House ... SheDev and I never managed to get out to see it

Actually I started thinking again about seeing the documentary because now its a short commercial that you see on late night TV ... so in between being tempted at buying new Tony Robbins and the Snoop episode of Girls Gone Wild, while watching Blind Date ... hmmm Biggie and Tupac dot com ... something like that, you can buy this very DVD that I will review here

The thing that I suppose is most fascinating about this movie is Nick Broomfield's willingness and perhaps stupid bravado to ask the questions that are most pertinent ... to the people involved ... some of which I suppose wouldn't hesitate to perhaps do some serious bodily harm to the eccentric director --- who spends most of the movie walking around with a mic and earphones asking point blank questions nonblushingly

Broomfield does a great job of covering most angles to the story and actually admits to the viewer where dead ends are (or where he couldn't get more information out of, very refreshing) ... so he ambles from this person's home to this person's office ... then off to jail ... then Biggie's mothers house ... basically all over the creation to hunt down the truth of the matter, if such exists at all

I don't wish to spoil the documentary for you the potential viewer ... I do think that sometimes it is easier to get caught up with watching this guy walk around in the hood and do his thing ... sometimes it is easy to lose focus on the topic at hand or shall I say lose focus on what thread Broomfield is hunting down at particular points in the movie

I guess what I want to say is that the movie does tend to meander at times ... and at the documentary's core is a theory that has not gotten adequate play in the mainstream press (well, at least until the LA Times story) ... but interestingly enough, the theory does have some circumstantial factual evidence to suggest its further pursuit ... I don't want to say truth because I don't think that the truth can be as simple, let's just say Broomfield and some of the people in the documentary are on to something

What I did find interesting were little tidbits about both rappers that made me think wow, I never would have imagined that to be true ... stuff like Biggie's actual background growing up versus what he would rap about ... and also little tidbits about Tupac and his family that I never knew before either

Other stuff in this documentary makes one think twice about government agencies such as the police and the FBI ... some of the information revealed in this documentary makes one wonder about the nature and function of these agencies and what they are really doing ... not in a government goon conspiracy way but in a more subtle, yeah this could be real, sobering way ... if you do watch it, listen closely to what is said about Snoop Dogg (WOW)

Ok, more review ... I guess the picture quality and sound quality most times is not the most happening ... its really poor, but the format of guy impromptu sticking mic in face requires some leeway for both the ability to capture it effectively and then the locations involved (like the prison) make for some interesting camerawork (hahahahaha --- is the camera man planning an escape route ... funny)
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You would think that this movie would have heavily featured the music of the artists ... but short of a few BIG tracks, there are no Tupac tracks, and that is unfortunate to me as a viewer and fan of his music ... but probably takes away some from the content of the documentary inadvertently

It's weird but I'm a fan of commentaries, and this movie is one where you should really watch the DVD through once for the content ... and then again for the commentary --- you really get alot out of the commentary here as Broomfield drops a few more tidbits of information that are really interesting and add to the original informational content of the documentary

Overall, its a nice piece of informational work ... its not the most entertaining doc that I've seen or coherent at times ... sometimes you just want to break the TV when the stupid instrumental piano weird loop is playing during cutscenes ... but the pieces of information are well put together in a way that makes you think further about what you know personally about the murders ... and helps you synthesize some kind of opinion about whether you think Broomfield's movie is full of crap or not