After years of delays, director changes and much controversy, Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyez On Me” is heading to theaters June 16. Fans have had to wait for much more than glimpses of the movie. Late last year, a short trailer was released, but there was little more until about a week ago, when another trailer, with a lot of repeat snippets from the previous trailer were released. No bootlegged versions of the movie have surfaced and with less than two weeks before the premiere, and only one movie reviewer has claimed to have seen the movie. Nothing from Rotten Tomatoes or any of the other popular sites where people, supposedly wise about what makes a good movie, have postulated on the good or bad of what fans might expect.
Since the story of the famous rapper, poet, and actor who sold more than 80- million albums worldwide is well known, what can his fans expect? Will there be any depth? Will his fans get a look into the “real Tupac” the man? Certainly that’s what his fans would like to see.
What we hope the movie isn’t, is just a recap of well-known Tupac facts. Sure we know the beginning (a child hood with a drug addict mother) and the end (he goes out in a blaze of bullets in Las Vegas). But, we certainly hope for some meaningful new substance in between. However, we doubt it. With just 139 minutes to tell the story, threaded between tons of music and Tupac performances (we saw that in one trailer) is there time for much more? We doubt it, and expect this film will be a shallow rehash of a great rappers life.
However, we still have hope for the movie soundtrack, which is equally as mysterious and anticipated as the movie. The most we’ve found about the set is by way of producer L.T. Hutton, who gave some serious information on the project, from paying tribute to the original’s double disc format to guest features.
Hutton has been the pointman for the “All Eyez On Me” film for several years and was one of many responsible for putting the biopic into production.
“There is a soundtrack, but [it’s also] a tribute soundtrack,” said Hutton. “So people get to pay homage and it’s not a bunch of songs that you already heard and know already. You will not hear on this soundtrack anything that doesn’t have substance. No disrespect to any of those people who do that, but we weren’t about that. Tupac wasn’t about that. It will not be any b*****t mumble rap on this soundtrack.”