By Malice Intended

Rappers have no qualms about venturing into other media in order to generate new revenue streams and increase their popularity.  That their abilities and talents in these areas are unproven is beside the point.  In rare cases, such seemingly opportunistic attitudes can sometimes yield quality product.  More often they yield vanity projects that serve as little more than feature length commercials. 

Before I Self Destruct is the story of Clarence (50 Cent), a neighborhood basketball star whose NBA dreams are cut short by a leg injury.  Clarence is forced to take a menial job at a local supermarket in order to help his struggling single mother Donna (Kar) make ends meet.  Clarence is especially protective and loving towards his younger brother Shocka (Elijah Williams) who is a gifted and hard working school student.

When Donna is accidentally murdered, Clarence takes revenge on her killers.  This catches the attention of local crime lord Sean (Clifton Powell), who offers Clarence a job as an assassin.  Clarence proves to be even more adept at killing than he was on the ball court, and his new found wealth aids him in providing a better life for Shocka.  Along the way he falls in love with Princess (Sasha Delvalle) a young beauty whose good looks blind Clarence to her true nature.

Before I Self Destruct is 50 Cent’s debut as both writer and director.  The story would be at home in any one of the novels put out by 50’s own G-Unit Books imprint, themselves highly influenced by the writings of Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim.  In the hands of 50 Cent, such material would seem to be a no-brainer. 

As a director, 50 keeps things simple from a technical standpoint.  The cinematography, editing and shot selections are as basic as they come.  No stylistic flourishes or indulgences.  This is obviously due, as much, to budgetary constraints as to any creative choices on 50’s part.  Still, the film is not distractingly bad in this regard and that is to his credit.  Alas, almost every other aspect of Before I Self Destruct proves to be inept from a filmmaking standpoint.

The murder sequences have a comic book feel that undermines the gritty authenticity of the subject matter.  They are executed in a way that makes them reminiscent of missions from the Grand Theft Auto video game series.  This adds an unintentionally funny dimension to Clarence’s metamorphosis into a cold blooded killer.

50’s performance as Clarence is indicative of the films overall lack of energy and inspiration.  As a rap artist 50 has always exuded a sort of devilish charm.  He taunts and antagonizes opponents with child like glee and abandon.  As a result, his bullying tactics come off as amusing.  Unfortunately, 50 has never been able to effectively translate his rap persona to the big screen.  Before I Self Destruct finds him stiff and lifeless, with his trademark charisma surfacing only sporadically. 

The rest of the cast is uniformly wooden.  Clifton Powell livens up the proceedings with his charismatic turn as Sean, though it’s indistinguishable from similar roles he has played in other films.  Predictably, Sasha Delvalle’s role as Princess is the feature length equivalent of a XXL Eye Candy spread. 

The writing seems like an afterthought.  The dialogue feels improvised, giving it more of a conversational feel.  This usually adds an air of authenticity to films of this type.  Here, it punctuates the overall amateurish feel of the production. Clarence and Princesses relationship is so shallow as to be nonexistent.  His interest in her appears to be merely superficial, though it’s hard to distinguish if this is intentional or the result of bad writing and performances.    

Before I Self Destruct is a lifeless, ego-driven exercise in hood movie clichés.  Even when taken as an inconsequential exploitation flick it is barely passable.  Aside from a handful of vulgar thrills (consisting mostly of nudity and graphic violence), there is hardly anything in the way of true entertainment value. Only the most indiscriminate 50 Cent fan could possibly be pleased.  In the early days of straight to video” hood flicks” this might have passed muster.  Now it just plays as an relic of an earlier era.

Out of 5

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