Curtis James Jackson III (colloquially known as “50 Cent”) released his newest attempt at becoming a respected producer in theaters across the nation on January 30. The new film, “Moses the Black” is the most recent development in Jackson’s budding career in cinema, coming on the heels of such critically acclaimed films as “Righteous Kill” and “Sean Combs: The Reckoning.”
Jackson’s film features a star-studded cast, including Quavo and Wiz Khalifa. In addition to playing 2wo-3ree, an impulsive member of the gang’s middle management, Khalifa produced the film’s entire soundtrack, now available on Spotify. Omar Epps stars as Malik, a ruthless Chicago gang leader with private misgivings about his line of work. Quavo appears intermittently as a leader of a rival gang, who taunts Epps and Khalifa’s characters over Instagram Live.
The film repeatedly and inexplicably flashes back to 4th-century Egypt. These scenes depict St. Moses the Black, a reformed criminal, wandering through the desert, saying little and breathing heavily, before being slain by bandits. Meanwhile, Malik is given a portrait of the saint by his dying grandmother, and begins to ponder if his murderous lifestyle conflicts with his faith. He seeks counsel in a local church, before turning himself in and dying in prison.
Evidently, Jackson wants his audience to draw parallels between this heavily perspiring Egyptian saint and the modern-day gang leader who fears ordering drive-by shootings may conflict with the Ten Commandments. Sadly, Jackson’s hamfisted approach to this story of two rehabilitated gangsters leaves the audience scratching their heads. The majority of the film is a fever dream of rapid flashbacks between the West Side of Chicago and the Nubian desert. Malik’s incomprehensible musings drag on for half the movie, as the audience strains to make out what he’s saying.
Fortunately, Jackson offers a lifeline in the form of a handful of side plots. Malik inexplicably purchases his tattoo artist/lover a one-way ticket to Indonesia, which she tearfully accepts before running off with her young son in tow. A cocaine-snorting undercover cop appears intermittently, adjusting his durag to conceal his man-bun while asking his suspects for fashion advice. The junior gang members make several blunders throughout the film, earning them the moniker “Booty Bandits” and culminating in several grisly shootouts. Despite the welcome breaks from Malik’s monologue, these brief interludes are unable to carry the plot for an hour and fifty minutes.
“Moses the Black” premiered in Charlottesville in an empty theater, save for the author, his editor, and two unrelated elderly women. 2/5
