8 Mile

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, more commonly known as Eminem, has been credited as one of the greatest rap artists of all time alongside names like Tupac Shakur, Kendrick Lamar, The Notorious B.I.G, Snoop Dog, Nikki Minja, etc. Being a musical genre that was and still is heavily dominated by African American men and women, Eminem paved the way for more white rappers to pop up in the future, with his global success and multiple acclaimed tracks and records cementing him in the history books as one of the best-selling artists in the world. In 2002, a film starring Eminem titled ‘’8 Mile’’ was released and, while not successful to the level of his music, did still manage to turn a noticeable profit at the box office, appeal to new and old fans of hip hop music, and even managed to get an Oscar win for the song ‘’Lose Yourself’’ (which was created for this movie), proving that even in a different medium, Eminem still knew how to hype up a crowd. In the streets of Detroit, Jimmy Smith Jr. going under his stage name of B Rabbit (played by Eminem) is an aspiring rapper who wants to make it big, but his blue-collar work life mixed with having to move back in with his trailer-park mother, Stephanie (played by Kim Basinger) results in nerves on the stage, which leads to an embarrassing choke during a rap battle that only further crushes his confidence. Despite being constantly hyped up by his friends, mainly his best friend and rap battle host, David Porter, otherwise known as Future (played by Mekhi Phifer), Jimmy feels like he can’t compete in an industry catered towards a mostly black audience and starts to fear that he will never amount to anything. However, after meeting a woman named Alex (played by Brittany Murphy) and after several antagonistic encounters with a rival rap group, Leaders of the Free World, led by Papa Doc (played by Anthony Mackie), who he will have to face off with in the next upcoming rap battle, he might be able to convince himself and the crowd that he does have what it takes to step up to the mike. Unlike its lead actor, 8 Mile wasn’t a trailblazer of any kind in spite of its box office and award success, with the critical and audience reception being fairly in the middle, but for fans of rap music or even just Eminem himself, this movie will satisfy just fine.

Despite never being outright stated, the film does take inspiration from Eminem’s own life, like his living standards and his relationship with his complicated mother, whilst adding elements like the feud between rap groups and the competition, so the film can function like other music and sports film (this is essentially Rocky with lyrics instead of punches). Despite sounding a little silly, this isn’t a bad idea as the story of a down-on-his-luck lower-class man trying to achieve greatness in something he’s talented in by taking down the top dog of the business, works quite well in this environment. The way it meshes with the unique personality and even more run-down feel of the movie and its subject matter, results in it not feeling like an exact copy of other related films, but one that uses the right pieces to create a more cohesive experience. However, the difference is that Rocky was already a fairly standard story in 1976, so the same synopsis being on a film that comes out 23 years later isn’t going to survive with the bare minimum, and this film is just the bare minimum. You’ve heard every trick and trope to come out of this plot and this one doesn’t really shake things up in any way; every line of dialogue is expected, any conflict (regardless of how short or relatively meaningless it feels) leaves no impact, the characters are stereotypes, and the movie really could’ve benefited from injecting more of Eminem’s personal life into the narrative to at least add a few unique sprinkles to this safe vanilla sundae. The script written by Scott Silver (the man who would eventually go onto to write the screenplay for Oscar winning films like The Fighter and Joker) feels a little too safe and too expected with how it starts, progresses and ends, despite the rest of the film presenting something far grizzlier and raw through its manner of acting, tone of direction, and choice of narrative focus. On the flip-side, the directing by Curtis Hanson (who was responsible for several neo-noir and psychological thrillers like The Bedroom Window, Bad Influence, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and L. A. Confidential) is not too bad and portrays that needed sense of grit through aggressive performances, a droning pace that doesn’t feel like it drags, a dirty and naturalistic production, and a believable dialect between all the characters. Even if the story isn’t that engaging, several components are kind of tiring to sit through, and there are occasions where the film does have a very immature and ‘’teenage boy’’ mentality to it that can be a little demeaning (any woman in this movie is either just there to be looked at, be an object of lust, or to be yelled at), the filmmaking doesn’t cause any more irritation.

Another component that worked for Rocky but doesn’t really work here is that Rocky had characters that were certainly flawed in many ways, but you could still relate to them and tolerate being around them. This film doesn’t really have many characters that are likeable, as they all range in the same attitude spectrum of constantly angry and shouting, or overly depressed and washed-up. They live in an area where it makes sense for most of them to act as such, but it’s hard to stay invested when there’s no level of nuance or depth, so they just come across as bland archetypes taken from other stories. This is felt the most with the lead, as even if many of these attributes and life experiences relate to Eminem’s true story, it doesn’t really dash away the fact that the character of Jimmy (or Rabbit as he is distractingly called several times throughout this film) just isn’t that likeable. You can feel a hint of sympathy for him and justify some of his attitude given his current situation, but he spends the whole movie being constantly miserable and aggressive all the time, which is tiring to watch for an almost two-hour running time. It’s not like he has any personality traits, clarified motivations or desires outside of rapping to really latch onto, and it is made a little worse by Eminem, who despite not being that bad, isn’t strong enough to make this role any more than what is presented on the paper. He lacks depth, his emotional range is extremely sparse, his tone of voice never changes regardless of whether he’s upbeat, downtrodden, or angry, and while he isn’t distracting to listen to and he does quite well during the rapping segments (obviously), it just feels like himself rather than a character, so it might only be appealing to hard-core fans. While the rest of the cast is also not that great from a character perspective, the acting is at least a bit better, even if not entirely. People like Evan Jones and De’Angelo Wilson as some of Jimmy’s friends, Brittany Murphy and Taryn Manning as Jimmy’s girlfriend and ex-girlfriend, and even Kim Basinger and Michael Shannon as Jimmy’s mother and her drunken abusive boyfriend, aren’t that good and come across as pretty hammy, but most of the others at least feel pretty genuine. Mekhi Phifer is pretty likeable as Jimmy’s best friend, Anthony Mackie is given next to no lines and feels like he has no role, but his stares alone are pretty intimidating, and other background actors like Omar Benson Miller, Eugene Byrd, and Craig Chandler do well with what they have.

The film has a look that by all accounts is pretty dated and fairly ugly to look at, with a muddy yellow and green filter, hazy lighting, and an overly squalid environment, but it does feel authentic to the location being displayed and does serve to create an atmosphere that the film follows through on. Despite nothing about this movie being incredibly cinematic, the way the film is composed from a visual and even to some extent musical level, does a good job at emulating the feel of the area and even if it isn’t nice looking, is handled in a way that makes it look well done. The camera work by Rodrigo Prieto (who would grow to become an Oscar nominated cinematographer for films like Brokeback Mountain, Silence, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon) is very down-to-earth and has a shaky, over-the-shoulder presentation that puts you in the situation of every character, whether it be for something good or for something bad. It appropriately makes everything feel miserable, especially showcased in the environment, with little moments like the various boarded-up buildings scattered everywhere, people casually entering other people’s homes without much care or even consequence, or children casually playing in these seemingly dangerous streets, helping to bring a sense of understanding to why this is a place that everybody wants to get away from. Since the film takes place in Detroit, it does showcase qualities of the region, like its industrial-focus job market, its major contributions to art and music (including helping to develop hip-hop), and its diverse population, all of which play some factor into the story. While the quality of racial discrimination in the rap industry is an interesting element to explore, the movie doesn’t truly explore it even if there are a few nods (the title is based on 8 Mile Road, the highway that divided the predominantly black city of Detroit and the largely white suburban community to the north, so that’s a neat titbit). The music (provided by Eminem himself) or ‘’score’’ is mostly just little jingles that either were or would be parts of his music, which allows for a unique sound that is classical, but still a little edgy. It doesn’t go far enough to create a unique identity, and weirdly the rapping isn’t that good (they made Lose Yourself for the film, and they save it for the end credits?), but at least there is a fun sense of flow and rhythm to the lyrics, so it does keep a good energy throughout each moment, even if it doesn’t feel the least bit unique.

For a person that has left a sizable impact on the world of rap music, 8 Mile feels like a decently well put-together movie to commemorate his efforts. While there are a lot more rappers in the industry that are still worthy of a movie in their own right, it is nice to see a film centred around rapping done in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be mean-spirited or overly stereotypical. With that said, the film isn’t really anything that special and would only really appeal to those that are crazy about hip hop or Eminem, as most of the qualities are at best well-handled but generic, and at worst, actively poor. Honestly, if the movie was more of a straightforward biopic on Eminem’s (or Marshall Mathers’) life, it might’ve worked out better, but for what it is, it’s perfectly fine. Not as explorative as it could’ve been (no explanation of what ‘’mom’s spaghetti’’ is), but still good enough to warrant a watch.