Turn It Up (2000)

Here's another movie about music, and a young thug trying it big in the ghetto, this time starring Pras and Ja Rule - the latter the sidekick, and Jason Statham as the big bad (but not particularly well showcased) wolf. The emotions aren't that well showcased either, and in the end it kept the tension high enough to keep watching, but never enough to make me feel the same things the characters did. The most emotional moments seem omitted, too. Like Pras just couldn't convey the kind of emotion they might need for those scenes.

The dialogue's a bit artificial too, and the music's not all that special, nor the action, or the relationship drama, but put all those elements together and it's not such a bad movie after all. It's just really nothing out of the ordinary.

I remember seeing this years ago during my grand tour through whatever cheap B-movies I could find at Ginza, but I'm glad that phase didn't last. Like within the plot within this movie: we grow, and move on to better things. To blockbusters, maybe? At least to titles I think I'd like to see. B-movies aren't all bad, and occasionally it's a rare, unknown low-budget movie that really surpasses all expectations, but this wasn't one of those. This was one of many, and Pras unfortunately doesn't make a great first impression as an actor. If he did try to jump into that career with this, it seems he's turned it down since.

 rated 2/5: decent