I will say this: I'm glad I watched till the end because it was sketchy there for a second. For a good 80% of the movie I was watching one extended rap video. Take 90% of the hottest rap songs and make them into a movie and that's what "Belly" was for the majority of the film. Robbing. Killing. Selling drugs. Smoking weed. Womanizing. Glorifying money. And all of your traditional rap-song set pieces were there too: nice cars, nice homes, jewelry, and an occasional trip to the ghetto to show authenticity.
Finally, they got to a message beyond all of that nonsense. The pervasive message was knowledge of self which should equate to abandoning all of the social and physical poisons out there for one to forget knowledge of self.
The message is good, but is that what remains? You spent 80 minutes of a 90 minute movie showing the glamor of a crooked lifestyle and the abundant ignorance of just about every character without there being a sane or righteous voice. Then, in the last ten minutes you add a moral compass to offset the superfluous misguided activity of before. Is anyone going to remember that the movie was about more than "gettin' money?" I hope so.
Finally, they got to a message beyond all of that nonsense. The pervasive message was knowledge of self which should equate to abandoning all of the social and physical poisons out there for one to forget knowledge of self.
The message is good, but is that what remains? You spent 80 minutes of a 90 minute movie showing the glamor of a crooked lifestyle and the abundant ignorance of just about every character without there being a sane or righteous voice. Then, in the last ten minutes you add a moral compass to offset the superfluous misguided activity of before. Is anyone going to remember that the movie was about more than "gettin' money?" I hope so.