"Notorious" Film Review

"Notorious" Film Review
M.D. Wright
1.25.09

"Notorious" -- a biopic about the life and times of Christopher G.L. Wallace -- was released to public theatres on January 16, 2009. I recently had the opportunity to view it and I'm prepared to offer a review.

As a kid who followed BIG from the bottom to the pinnacle of his career (bought Ready to Die on CD AND cassette, and bought Life After Death THREE TIMES on CD) -- plus being a teenager when he came out, I have a great appreciation for his music and what it meant to those of us who just gobbled it up back then.

I won't get into nostalgia and this will be a brief review.

The actors were very well-versed and played the roles almost verbatim to what took place back from '91 until the end on March 9, 1997.

The director did not take liberties and stuck to the truth (at least as was told by those who witnessed it first-hand and what the media outlets were doing). I appreciated that. Seeing some of the scenes that I am familiar with having lived in Brooklyn years ago, it was very good to see how well the director re-created the scenes and used actors who were convincing enough to cause people who were of age at the time to at least reflect back on the actual people themselves.

I would definitely say the movie had excellent pace, the proper level of rawness, drama and poignancy that would make this a classic. The ending was perfect, all things considered.

I will admit that I had very low expectations about this movie. I was wrong. I say it is a must-see for those who haven't seen it. It is a good memory piece and worth watching several times over the years like some of the other classics from back in the day.

Grade: A-