Get Rich or Die Tryin' feels like the fulfillment of the old saying, "may you live in interesting times." The most notable thing that has happened to Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson is being shot nine times; consequently, not only does the character he portrays, Marcus 'Young Caesar' Greer, but also numerous other individuals experience gunfire within the film. Most of those involved manage to survive, which diminishes the impact somewhat. As for what might be considered the second most significant event in Fifty’s life, it actually occurred with someone else: 8 Mile, a considerably better movie starring Eminem released three years earlier. The core issue lies in the fact that 8 Mile explores humility, whereas GRoDT centers on arrogance; even the title itself conveys an air of excessive pride, and its shared name with a 50 Cent album suggests this inflated ego extends beyond the character to encompass the performer as well. Unlike Eminem, who didn't portray himself but rather someone akin to him, embodying a genuine human being, Marcus Greer isn’t so much a fictionalized version of Jackson as it is 50 Cent's vision of 50 Cent. Young Caesar represents the larger-than-life persona that Curtis Jackson clearly aspires to be, to the extent that even fifty cents seems insufficient; only a nickname referencing what is arguably history's most brilliant military and political mind would do. This irony is unintentional because the protagonist isn’t particularly astute; for instance, little Marcus's (Marc John Jefferies) mother is murdered, and the suspect is described as a "Rick James-looking motherfucker" (Leon, who is criminally underused), so Marcus keeps a photo of the Super Freak nearby just to remember what his mother’s alleged killer looks like. The film intends to be a drama, a genre that the director, having previously directed My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, should understand well; however, he also wrote those films, so responsibility for this puzzling mistake falls squarely on the scriptwriter. The hero's Dickensian childhood was a cliché that 8 Mile could avoid because the dysfunctional dynamic between Eminem and Kim Basinger conveyed everything we needed to know about it without resorting to narration in Fifty’s flat, unemotional voice. Still, the soundtrack features a song called “Window Shopper,” which necessitates a predictable scene of young Marcus gazing longingly through a window at sneakers he can't afford, while some extras mock him. The director assembles a strong supporting cast around Jackson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Terrence Howard, the imposing Bill Duke), but this proves to be a mixed blessing; either they raise Fifty’s performance to their level or completely overshadow him until he fades into the background, which is precisely what happens. If Jackson possessed more intelligence and less self-interest, he would have let Howard, still riding high from a similar role in Hustle & Flow, take the lead instead of casting him as his loyal sidekick Bama. Nevertheless, Howard steals every scene he appears in (and delivers the best lines; for example, "Bama. Are you from Alabama?" "No, North Carolina." "Why do they call you Bama?” “I didn't want people to call me Lina”), including a particularly memorable confrontation in a jail shower that preceded the Turkish bath fight in Eastern Promises by two years. The crucial distinction is that Hustle & Flow tells the story of a pimp who dreams of becoming a musician, while GRoDT depicts a gang member who gets sidetracked too easily: “I had my own space and I could focus on my dream of being a rapper… After three hours, I quit my career as a rapper and went back to selling coke.” Essentially, why exert effort when one is such a natural talent that, even in prison, the other inmates and guards know all the lyrics to Young Caesar’s future hit songs?

Source on TMDB