8 Mile
Director: Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys, LA Confidential)
Writer: Scott Silver (The Mod Squad)
MPAA Rating: R (Strong Language, Sexuality, Some Violence, and Drug Use)
Genre: Drama | Musical

Our Take on the Film
30-Second Plot Review
How Does It Look?
How Does It Sound?
Bonus Features and Material
Easter Eggs
Parent's Guide
DVD-ROM

OUR TAKE ON THE FILM: 6.5 out of 10
I know, I know, how could the evil myCaledon reviewer not possibly award a perfect 10 to this stunning story of a man who fought the odds and won, a true success story. Let me be honest with you straight up. The movie is not bad, and the performances are not bad. I don't "hate Eminem", I'm not a 40-year-old parent who "doesn't get it". The facts are, if this movie did not star everyone's favourite bad boy of the moment, it would become obvious to everyone else that this is just a boring movie. Does it have it's moments? For sure. The rap battles are every bit as much fun as you might think they are, and many of the supporting performances are done admirably. The music is great, including that all-too-catchy "Lose Yourself" that's already been all over the radio waves for the last eight months or so. Eminem does fine, perhaps because he's not really acting, simply reenacting his experiences five years earlier. He essentially sleepwalks through his performance in a constant state of dejected and silent fury, pausing briefly to yell at friends and family from time to time. Kim Basinger offers up a surprisingly nasty performance in which she consistently forgets she's inexplicably supposed to have a Southern accent, seeing as she's from Detroit and all. However, if you're going to go with the Southern accent it's probably a good idea to keep it for the entire film, not just whenever it strikes you. And as noted, the big problem being that it's just a plain boring movie. Two hours that probably could have made a great one hour TV program but simply runs out of gas far too early as is. But who cares, right? It's got Eminem, he swears a lot, he grabs himself frequently, treats women like crap, and finds inventive ways to rhyme with the F and S words on a consistent basis. This is what passes for brilliance and entertainment today, and who am I to stand in the way? If you love Eminem, you'll love 8 Mile, so go rent it. If you don't love Eminem I can assure you this film is likely to offend you if you're awake long enough to care.

30-SECOND PLOT REVIEW
For Jimmy Smith, Jr. (Eminem), life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment is another chance.

HOW DOES IT LOOK?
The film is presented in separate 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and 4:3 fullscreen versions. It's also possible to get the film in both versions with censored or uncensored extras, making four full different versions of the film. All in all, it's a pretty good visual presentation. The gritty style of the film is achieved through excessive low light and the always fun blue haze floating over many scenes. Still, it works here as something more pleasant wouldn't set the mood required to associate with our main characters. Even with the low light conditions I never found the night scenes too dark to make out what was going on, and colours still managed to break through crisply. Nice work.

HOW DOES IT SOUND?
The film is offered with Dolby DTS 5.1 Surround Sound in English, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound in English and French, and Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound in English and Spanish, with optional English subtitles. Lots of selection, a good idea for a film that holds the music as a very important part of the overall product. The mix is aggressive in the right parts, and the dialogue is crystal clear alongside the music. The only small complaint I may have is the bass seems a bit TOO aggressive in parts, and those with lower end stereos or televisions will likely find the knick-knacks making their way off the shelves pretty quickly. A bit more uniformity would have been preferable, but still, this is a high-quality offering that works well.

BONUS FEATURES AND MATERIAL
The back of the DVD case doesn't do justice to a good amount of bonus material, starting with the requisite The Making of 8 Mile (10:01) featurette. Probably an inch better than your average one as it keeps fair distance from the blatant salesmanship of most making-of docs these days. The only drawback occurs when Hanson or Grazer get a chance to speak and come off as your generic "guy who's far too old and white to be speaking like this". It's somewhat laughable, but the featurette works regardless as a good look behind the scenes, complete with some Eminem interviews that allow him to come off as fairly eloquent and relaxed. This is followed up by the DVD showcase piece, Exclusive Rap Battles (23:37), featuring real battles and tryouts with extras and performers from the film, as well as the stars (including Eminem) themselves. The "uncensored" portion simply consists of some frequent cursing, nothing out of the ordinary if you've ever actually heard an Eminem song. Still, think "American Rap Idol" and you've probably got a good idea of what you're going to get here - if you're a rap fan, you're in your happy place. The Music of 8 Mile goes over the two soundtracks created for the film - Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile and More Music From 8 Mile - as well as a section titled Music Highlights that are basically chapter skips to the performances from the movie. Only the "More Music.." option contains the same samples, the first "Music From.." list has no clickable options. "Superman" Music Video (5:02) is the uncensored video for the Eminem song, complete with cursing and nudity, and the Theatrical Trailer (2:24) finishes off the video extras. We get 12 pages of Production Notes, as well as a Cast and Filmmakers section that offers up bios for Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Omar Benson Miller, Evan Jones, Eugene Byrd, De'Angelo Wilson, Production Designer Philip Messina, Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, Executive Producer Carol Fenelon, Executive Producer James Whitaker, Executive Producer Gregory Goodman, Executive Producer Paul Rosenberg, Producer Brian Grazer, Director Curtis Hanson, Producer Jimmy Iovine, Writer Scott Silver, and a second link to Hanson. The disc finishes off with some DVD pimpin' cleverly hidden as Recommendations for American Pie, American Pie 2, The Fast and the Furious, and How High.

EASTER EGGS
Surprisingly, none that we could find.

PARENTS GUIDE
The MPAA rates this film R for strong language, sexuality, some violence, and drug use, and the Canadian Home Video Rating is 18A. There are times when I think this section is a waste of finger time for me, and this is one of them. It's Eminem, surely nobody is renting this to babysit the kids for the evening. The entire thing is poor influence wrapped around the veil of a wholesome "believe in yourself" message. Expect well over 200 F-words, about 100 S-words, 30 A-words, and a fair amount of reference to male and female genitalia in decidedly unwholesome ways. Beyond that we have smoking, drinking, a good amount of violence, and a few instances of sex, although nothing much is seen beyond the side of Kim Basinger's breast. This movie well earns it's rating, which is unfortunate seeing as anyone over the age of 18 probably shouldn't be terribly interested in this thing.

DVD-ROM FEATURES
Placing this DVD in your DVD-ROM launches the InterActual Player with the promise of the Universal Total Axxess treatment. Unfortunately, since I do these reviews before the DVDs are released these features are never available. A few Exclusive Photos and Exclusive Videos are there, but require registration. Universal usually offers some sweet stuff, though, so it should be worthwhile.

This film reviewed Wednesday, March 18, 2003 in Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo Sound on the DVD format.