Whats’ more important to you, the journey or the destination? For me, it’s always the journey, and after John Singleton came out with his debut sensation Boyz N the Hood, I was ready to follow him anywhere. I didn’t mind that his follow up film would start out in L.A. before taking us on a mail truck road trip to Oakland with Justice (Janet Jackson) and Lucky (Tupac Shakur), along with two of their friends. It’s a journey that has potential, but it turns out I might’ve hopped in the passenger seat too quickly.
Make no mistake, Boyz N the Hood is a masterpiece and one of the things that Singleton managed to do with that film was take the natural charisma of hip hop star Ice Cube and turn him into a damn movie star. His presence gave the film credibility when it came to the streets and he was dished out in small doses. It wasn’t Cube’s story, but he managed to use him effectively and place him in a story where his character was not only necessary, but made sense.
I have the feeling Singleton tried to do the same with Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, but it just didn’t work for me. Most of Janet’s portrayal of Justice is told through voice over readings of her poetry, which thankfully are the brilliant words of Maya Angelou. But when it comes to Janet’s actual acting…things are a bit rougher. I had hopes because as a child I actually really liked her on the show Good Times, but here she seems self-conscious and timid and unable to fully engage in the material. We end up learning very little about her other then what is written on the page.
She also gives others very little to work with, and that makes things rather unfortunate for her costars. Regina King, an excellent actress, does well with the little she’s given as her best friend Iesha. Her character defining problem drinking barely deserves a mention, as it’s barely mentioned in the screenplay, but their interactions with each other come across as truthful and they seem to have a relationship that goes beyond the script.
Which leaves us with Tupac, in his first real film role (because he only danced in Nothing But Trouble). He’s got charm and charisma, and it’s easy to see how he kept getting roles after this film, but he’s wasted here. Somewhere in that script is a good character waiting to come out but he shares the same fate as all the other underwritten participants. Most of his character’s actions come from, not to reveal motivation or understanding, but to move The plot forward. When he arrives in Oakland he rather conveniently arrives just as his aspiring rap star cousin is shot dead in the street. Its a moment that would’ve been a central point elsewhere, but here it’s barely given any weight. Its a scene which allows him to take his deceased cousin’s recording equipment home with him. Seriously, the shooting death, and resulting fallout, takes up all of five minutes screen time.
He also has no chemistry with Jackson. After verbally sparring all movie long they eventually kiss, as we were fully expecting, but we are given no reasons why it managed to happen. They briefly reveal some personality for a two minute conversation and the next moment we’re to believe they kissed and had sex offscreen? I wasn’t buying it for a moment.
This could have been a great road movie. We were given characters who absolutely needed to connect with other in order to make their lives better, but for too much of the run time they’re left to speak in cliche’s or find themselves in situations where nothing actually happens. Sure, the characters get from Point A to Point B, but the journey itself left me feeling empty, like I’d read the cliff notes to a great novel.
All we got was the destination.
Rated 2 out of 5 stars.
