NOTORIOUS

East side tragedy

Christopher Wallace is Biggie. Growing up fatherless and nearly penny-less, Wallace almost takes a wrong turn with drug-dealing, only to find his way into rap thanks to a friend who took the final wrong-turn for Wallace. Desperate, and raising a daughter, Wallace succeeds with his friend Puffy in a budding industry that was more dangerous than any other parts of the music industry. Regretfully, Wallace’s unavoidable competition with once-friend, now rival Tupac comes to a head at the pinnacle of his career.

I’m certainly not up and up on my rap history, as it ended with Run DMC with me, but there was something redeeming about watching NOTORIOUS. It provided a very human light on the industry itself and gave even more insight to how hard it is to break in and how even harder it is to maintain that type of lifestyle. For a two-hour film it certainly has a heavy impact on the viewer. It doesn’t pull any punches, it takes you through what could be considered the most important parts of his life and the moments where he changed from poor kid with no future to rich rapper with a future to a rapper who wanted to be a father to a tragic mark on the music industry’s history books. The movie really does justice to Christopher Wallace’s memory.

What else does justice is Jamal Woolard’s performance as the lead character. You will forget that you’re not watching footage of Wallace himself. He developed his Biggie and executed the character just absolutely perfectly. His delivery, his actions, his emotions, all of these things seem to fall into place with the real Biggie. Woolard doesn’t fail to entertain and steal the emotion from the audience. What’s great is that he builds with the story and they work hand-in-hand. Again, it’s impressive.

Now, where’s the downside? The content is tough to swallow at moments. There’s a reason why it says unrated on the front. You get the sex and violence and especially the language that comes along with the story. Outside of the rough content, you also get a one-sided story, as the real story of Biggie may never come to light. It’s a tragedy that both sides couldn’t see eye-to-eye, because I couldn’t even imagine how well and how big Tupac and Biggie could have been. It could have been epic. Tupac had his story though and now Biggie has his, which one is right is the million-dollar question. Much like their rap skills, I bet if you put both together you could probably piece together something that could be close to the truth. Regretfully, both sides have their own story to tell and each one is just as riveting and heartfelt as the other.

In the end, you feel for Biggie. If this story is true to his life, and his tragedy, then it was unfair to see someone cut down in the prime of their life. Most tragedies occur when the victim finally realizes what they’ve lost and who they need to be. Christopher ‘Biggie’ Wallace was a pioneer and this movie certainly preserves a view of his life that many people would love to have forever.

Blu-ray brings it all home

Visually, NOTORIOUS carries beauty like so many other Blu-rays. You’ll get some fantastic video in 1080p. The real sell for this Blu-ray is going to be the remastered HD tracks that will give you goosebumps. You’ll get sucked into the story thanks to this and the music will certainly seem and feel more real. Blu-ray made this work.

As for features, here’s what you’re getting:

• Commentary with Director George Tillman, Jr., Co-Screenwriter Reggie Rock Bythewood, Co-Screenwriter Cheo Hodari Coker and Editor Dirk Westervelt

• Commentary with Producer/Biggie’s Mom Voletta Wallace, Producer/Biggie’s Co-Manager Wayne Barrow and Producer/Biggie’s Co-Manager Mark Pitts

• Behind the Scenes: “Making of Notorious” Featurette

• I Got a Story to Tell: The Lyrics of Biggie Smalls

• NOTORIOUS Thugs: Casting the Film

• Biggie Boot Camp

• Anatomy of a B.I.G. Performance

• Party & Bulls**t (never-before-seen footage of the real B.I.G.)

• The B.I.G. Three-Sixty

  • The Petersen

  • Directing the Last Moments

  • It Happened Right Here

  • The Petersen Exit

  • The Shooting

  • The Impala

  • The Unfortunate Violent Act

  • The Window

• Deleted Scenes

• BonusVIEW – Life After Death: Making NOTORIOUS

The BD-Live material is impressive, especially if you’re a huge fan of the man. The commentary from director George Tillman, Jr. is worth the price of time. You will get more insight into the production and how it all went down. All the other features, which are also on the DVD version, make this worth a look and add to the story.