Notorious DVD Review

Notorious

DVD Review
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Released: April 28, 2009

Notorious has finally hit the streets on DVD, telling the story of Christopher Wallace, better known as the rapper Biggie.

Notorious was directed by George Tillman Jr., and stars Jamal Woolard who does a great job in the role of Biggie.

This biopic tells the story of the life of the legendary rapper, his relationship with his mother Voletta (Angela Bassett), Tupac, (Anthony Mackey), Sean Combs (Derek Luke) and others.

The way in which the film was done was to showcase a great deal of information about the life of Biggie, while still keeping it Hollywood and very entertaining at the same time.

The way in which the whole film plays out really does a tremendous job of telling the life of Biggie, his relationships in high school, and growing up as an adult.

You see that it was not an immediate rise to stardom for Biggie, but instead more of a struggle as he made his way up the ladder.

This is a very entertaining and emotional ride that will be loved by Biggie fans for years.  It may not be perfect, but this is definitely a great hip hop film.

The video quality for the DVD release, as well as the audio are both very well-done with the video coming across extremely clean, while the audio does a good job of allowing the story to be told, while still immersing you in all of the hip hop sounds.

As for the extras on the DVD release, there is plenty here to explore with well over an hour of extra content.

The release includes both the unrated director’s cut of the film, as well as the theatrical version for starters.

From here, we are also presented with commentary tracks which feature different voices.

The first commentary track has the director, co-screenwriter, and others, while the second featured Biggie’s mom Volette Wallace, his co-manager Wayne Barrow, and Mark Pitts.  The second commentary track was great to listen to and should really connect with fans.

From here, there are many more featurettes looking into some of the more behind-the-scenes stuff as to how the movie came together, the casting, the lyrics of Biggie, and more.

A set of deleted scenes are also included here, and are actually quite plentiful.

The only thing I would have liked to see more of is a more in-depth look at his life even beyond the film.  Besides that all bases are surely covered in this release.

Notorious is a film that hip hop and Biggie fans have been waiting years to finally come out, and the story is tremendous.  The characters are played out by a great cast, and the story is told in a way that will connect with old fans, and new fans.  This is a great way to truly learn about the life of one of the greatest hip hop icons in history.

Film: 8.2 A very strong film with a great cast, and an amazing story.

Video: 9.0 Not much to complain about, great use of colors, black levels.

Audio: 9.2 Extremely crisp and clear throughout.

Extras: 8.4 Some great extras with the solid commentary tracks, deleted scenes, and more.

Final Score: 8.5

Do you have a product that you would like featured on dBTechno? If so, drop us a line at vicb@dbtechno.com

• Pin It
• Share
• Tweet