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This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Past DVD Hardware / Software News |
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8 Mile
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DVD Drama
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Written by Abbie Bernstein
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Tuesday, 18 March 2003
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title:
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8 Mile |
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studio:
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Universal Studios Home Video |
| MPAA rating: |
R
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| starring: |
Eminem, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger |
| release year: |
2002 |
| film rating: |
Three-and-a-Half Stars |
| sound/picture: |
Three-and-a-Half Stars |
| reviewed by: |
Abbie Bernstein |
Although it is set very specifically in 1995, “8 Mile” evokes memories
of 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever,” which likewise featured a young man
from a working-class background trying to make something of himself via
his chosen art form. There have actually been plenty of movies with
this premise before and since – it’s just that “Saturday Night Fever”
is one of the few that succeeded without making its themes and/or its
lead look silly.
While Brooklyn discos in the ‘70s and Detroit rap clubs in the ‘90s
would seem to be separated by far more than mere geography, “8 Mile”
turns out to be a worthy successor in the genre. It of course helps
immeasurably that leading man Eminem has total credibility in most
quarters when it comes to rap and it’s also key that director Curtis
Hanson and writer Scott Silver have a strong grasp of their milieu and
their subject matter. Melodrama rises but never really gets out of
hand, both the movie and the hero retain some sort of perspective –
indeed, the trenchant dialogue on exactly what’s going on finds its way
into the character’s potent rap routines – and production sound mixer
Danny Michael and supervising sound editors Dane A. Davis and Julia
Evershade take pains to ensure that the rap lyrics are not just audible
but intelligible, a crucial distinction that is often missed in both
video and straight audio presentations.
Eminem plays Jimmy, aka B. Rabbit, who spends his days on the line at
an auto plant, his nights with his friends hanging around the
neighborhood and at rap joints, and every spare moment penning rhymes.
Jimmy is talented but plagued by stage fright – his best buddy Future
(Mekhi Phifer) urges Jimmy to face his demons and enter another local
rap competition, while name-dropping Wink (Eugene Byrd) wants to be
Jimmy’s ticket to the big time. Meanwhile, Jimmy has a messy home life
with his adored little sister (Chloe Greenfield) and an unemployed
alcoholic mom (Kim Basinger) who puts up with far too much from her
abusive boyfriend.
“8 Mile” is unobtrusively skillful, showcasing Eminem’s rapping chops
and strong naturalistic acting ability – we believe everything he does
– without resorting to turning Jimmy into a plaster saint. The
character’s bouts of indignation and self-righteousness are
proportionate to what’s going on around him; this isn’t one of those
movies where telling someone off is equated with running into a burning
building. In fact, there is a sequence in a burning building, but it is
there to prove how random and callow Jimmy and his friends can be, not
that they’re incipient heroes.
“8 Mile” does not the amount of courage it takes to get into the duel
of words that is a rap battle – even if you’re not a hip hop fan, the
film’s smart look at how rhymes are inspired and utilized enhances
appreciation of the form. Indeed, the best extra on the DVD is the
“exclusive rap battles” section, hosted by director Hanson, which
chronicles a rap competition set up by the production company for the
dual purposes of revving up the extras and giving Eminem/Rabbit some
challenging opponents. While the analogies aren’t hit too hard, we can
easily see parallels with big-screen boxing stories – here the
combatants are brainier, more artistic and not trying to inflict
physical brain damage on one another (whether this is positive or
negative is in the eye of the viewer).
Eminem has both honesty and charisma in his performance, Phifer
provides strong support and Basinger is colorful and rather affecting
as Jimmy’s loving but despairing mother.
The soundtrack climaxes with Eminem’s hit “Lose Yourself,” while his “8
Mile” makes a strong impression. Other artists represented here (mostly
in snatches heard as source music) include Mobb Deep, Notorious B.I.G.,
O.C. MC Breed, 2Pac, Cypress Hill, Montell Jordan, South Central
Cartel, Outkast, Naughty By Nature, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Ol’ Dirty
Bastard, Method Man, the Pharcyde, Wu Tang Clan, Showbiz & AG, Onyx
and New Birth, An impromptu parody of “Sweet Home Alabama” in Chapter
5, with Jimmy and Future making up lyrics about Jimmy’s cruddy home
life to the Lynyrd Skynyrd tune, feels spontaneous (though it is no
doubt carefully scripted) and makes the characters instantly
identifiable and endearing – everybody has memories like this.
Sound on the DVD is a mixed bag. As noted above, the rap lyrics on the
DTS mix are blessedly clear. Chapter 1, however, has slight congestion
in the main speakers as heavy rap plays over the opening titles.
Chapter 2 treats us to some authentic crowd sounds that dial down once
the onscreen rap begins; the mains and rears put us on the stage and
surround us with a chorus of “boos” at the end. Chapter 4 has
reasonably loud but not enveloping ambient sounds in the auto factory
where Rabbit works. Chapter 6 has probably the best ambient effect on
the whole DVD as police sirens stream through the mains, wail back into
the rears, then circle around into the mains again. Chapter 9 has some
disproportionate popping sounds as drops of liquid hit the floor. When
Future grapples with his mike for the final showdown in Chapter 19, his
patter is plosive – we would assume that this is an intentional effect
(showing that the characters’ are coping with cheap sound equipment in
the screen), except that there seems to be a slight but detectable gap
between the rappers’ voices and the ambient rumble of the crowd. The
DTS surround mix in the crowd scenes generally favors the mains rather
than providing many discrete voices in the rears. Image reproduction is
faithful to the theatrical release, with bleak but clear visuals.
Besides the rap battle, the DVD contains a reasonably informative
making-of short, livened up by use of several different visual formats
(black and white film, color video, sepia treatment), a music video of
Eminem’s caustic “Superman” and a section entitled “The Music of ‘8
Mile’.” This consists of contents lists of the two soundtrack albums
and something called “Music Highlights.” I was unable to access this
last – every attempt to click on a selection caused the disc to launch
into Chapter 1 of the film proper.
“8 Mile” is a four-square gruncy showbiz success story, but it avoids
the traps of the format to emerge as an involving drama with music that
powerfully showcases both the new and already known abilities of star
Eminem.
| more details |
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sound format:
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English
DTS 5.1; English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround; French Dolby Digital 5.1;
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround |
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aspect ratio(s):
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2.35:1 |
| special features: |
Making-Of
Featurette; Exclusive Rap Battles; “Music of ‘8 Mile’”; “Superman”
Music Video; Production Notes; Cast and Filmmakers Filmographies;
Theatrical Trailer; DVD-ROM Features; English Subtitles |
| comments: |
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| reference system |
| DVD player: |
Kenwood DV-403 |
| receiver: |
Kenwood VR-407 |
| main speakers: |
Paradigm Atom |
| center speaker: |
Paradigm CC-170 |
| rear speakers: |
Paradigm ADP-70 |
| subwoofer: |
Paradigm PDR-10 |
| monitor: |
27-inch Toshiba |
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