Posted by tonester on 19th May 2003 06:03 PM:

8 Mile
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“One day someone said I was the future of hip-hop in Detroit”

When I first heard that 8 Mile was being made, there were many horrific images that passed through my thoughts: Britney Spears in Crossroads; Mariah Carey in Glitter and even Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan crossed the unkempt path that is my mind. But then I heard that the project was to be directed by Curtis Hanson, whose last two films (Wonder Boys and L.A. Confidential) are right up there amongst my favourites of recent times. So the tension was created: could the renowned storyteller break the drought of good pop-star-to-movie-star conversions? The simple answer is yes.

Jimmy Smith Jr (Eminem) better known as B-Rabbit, grew up on the wrong side of 8 Mile, unless you count cred as an essential ingredient in where you would have preferred to grow up. He works in a dead end job, just left his pregnant girlfriend and has moved back in with his trailer trash mother (Kim Basinger). He dreams of getting a record deal as a rap artist, and thus escaping from his life, but he can’t get over the first hurdle: win the rap battle at the local nightclub, the Shelter. And then there is his family to contend with. Rabbit choked on his first attempt at a rap battle: that, coupled with the fact that he is white attempting to get somewhere in a black man’s world, are his stumbling blocks, despite his obvious talent. But he has friends to help him get there: the host of the rap battles, Future (Mekhi Phifer), a muse in the form of Alex (Brittany Murphy) and a killer song (Lose Yourself) brewing inside him.

The question of whether or not Eminem can act is still up for grabs: he turns in a fine performance, and I developed a new appreciation of his particular art form, but hey, cast me in a movie playing a pale, longhaired thirty-something DVD reviewer, and let me tell you, the performance will be startlingly realistic, abd the reviews I write will be great. It’s not clear how much of 8 Mile is biographical (the bare facts at least seem to be), but leaving that aside, Curtis Hanson has made a film that is a new take on the Flasdance / Saturday Night Fever / countless other films journeys (talented underdog struggling to get over his roots to success) by concentrating on the characters rather than the almost formulaic plot.

Gritty, and featuring mostly handheld camera work, Hanson lets his engrossing characters carry the film through to it’s truly energising conclusion. In the process he has allowed his star to shine without resorting to allowing Eminem’s reputation or earlier body of musical work to cloud the film, but rather, it complements.


Technical Specifications
Distributor: Universal
Studio: Universal
Cinema Release: 2002
DVD Release: 2003
Video Format: 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced
Audio Format(s): DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Classification: M15+


Video
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. Despite a couple of minor problems, it is a pretty good one.

Sharpness and level of detail are excellent. In particular, shadow detail is a real standout: there are many scenes set in semi-darkness, so this needed to be good. The only grain I saw was stylistic stuff that I recall being present in the theatrical presentation. One of the minor criticisms is a little excessive edge enhancement: you can at times see a haloing effect around Eminem, l but this is limited to a couple of instances only.

The colour palette had a very natural feel about it: the gritty nature of the movie means that there is almost no vibrant colour at all, with grey and bluish tones dominating, but skin tones remained reasonably natural (although most of the white actors are extremely pale).

No film artefacts and no compression artefacts: good for a recent, biggish release. There was some aliasing though: brick buildings, cars and the like displayed some shimmer (although this was only severe once). There was also some moire on a radio speaker grille a couple of times. This (and the edge enhancement) would not have troubled me so much but for the fact that in many recent releases, such artefacts have been totally absent.


Soundtrack
Spoiled for choice, we get both DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, and although both are good, neither are really demo material, as there isn’t too much in the way of action taking place on the screen throughout.

The DTS track was crystal clear, and aside from the odd need to turn on the subtitles by reason of the actors at times speaking in hip-hop code, dialogue came across well, although a little lighter in the mix than I recall from the cinema.

The surrounds mainly contributed to ambience: the scenes in the Shelter and the manufacturing plant were buzzing with activity, but for most of the rest of the time, the track was front heavy, as there are long stretches of dialogue. A couple of directional effects made my head turn, but the “immersion factor” was mainly present in the ambience and the enveloping mix of the in movie music and soundtrack.

The subwoofer got a real workout from the opening scene: all of the music on offer is very bassy, and the subbie pounds at these times. Otherwise, aside form the odd gunshot or car roaring along, there was not much else for it to do.

As far as the difference between the two tracks goes, I must first say that I couldn’t switch tracks on the fly, and in order to compare two scenes I had to do lots of fiddling to get to the same point. The DTS track was also a couple of decibels louder, making comparison a little harder as well. Those things being said, it was my perception that the DTS track offered more in terms of overall clarity and some tighter bass for the many hip hop tracks.


Extras
The Making of 8 Mile - (10:01) (1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0): A good look at the movie, but far, far too brief with the piece being limited to some production video and comments from Eminem and Curtis Hanson.

Exclusive Rap Battles - (23:38) (1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0): Well, what do you do when you have a club full of extras for days on end? Stage your own rap battles designed to find a couple of rappers in the audience to potentially feature in the film. Curtis Hanson runs these “trials”, and they conclude with Eminem battling against the 4 winners to come up with some footage for the film, designed to be a montage of the battle heats before Rabbit makes it to the final.

The Music of 8 Mile - Here we have a listing of the tracks from the main soundtrack album, and index points in the film for “More Music from 8 Mile” as well as a separate section of index points for the rest of the music used in the movie. A good addition, but I was hoping for a featurette discussing the various pieces used in the movie.

Eminem Superman Music Video - (0:46) (1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0): Not my favourite Eminem song, but the raunchy clip feaaturing porn star Ginger Lynn goes some way to making up for that, and it is presented well to boot.

DVD-ROM featuring Total Axess - Unfortunately “Axess Denied” as this feature won’t be accessible until 18 May 2003.

Theatrical Trailer - (2:16) (1.85:1, not 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0): A good trailer for the final film. Video is significantly softer than the feature.

2 Fast 2 Furious Trailer - (1:18) (2.35:1, not 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0): A teaser for this film that doesn’t really look to be up to scratch with the original.

The Hulk Trailer - (0:46) (1.78:1, not 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0): Again more of a teaser than a full trailer, this is still a good addition to whet the old appetites.


And The Survey Says...
8 Mile is a film that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would, even second time around. Video is very good, sound is excellent, but the extras are far too light on for a film with a massive appeal: sadly missing are a commentary from the director and/or the star, or at least a featurette that is long enough to go into some serious depth.


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