Chi-Raq

I enjoyed watching it, but in my opinion it mimicked "A Miami Tail" that has rapper Trina as the main character. Although, this version was better directed, and rightfully so since I would assume there was more funds put into its release than the Miami movie. More importantly than comparisons, this story mimics what cities like Chicago are truly going through. Yes, this is Hollywood's twist on it for capitalistic purposes, but there is a serious issue going on with gang violence right now that just is not touched on enough because of the long-standing history of gangs in the US. For that reason, I applaud Spike Lee for always bringing some consciousness to his theatrical storytelling's. But, I couldn't give it 5-stars because, well, the acting (but not the actors) kind of sucked and did the message of the movie a disservice.

Has strong message but too many moving parts(singing, nick cannon as gansta, pimped out narrator) for 5 stars. My brain was like "what did you just watch?" by the end. If it was scaled back a little it could've been such a strong movie.

Ok the soundtrack is decent and its not the worst movie ever but everything else falls flat,the cast performance themselves are hit or miss with really only Samuel l Jackson and John cusack deserving praise,the dialogue always rhymes and it's cringey af,the humor is only funny 48% of the(and there's a lot of it) and the message was excuted poorly,now I'm a Chicago native and do understand what Spike wanted to do but he failed man