THE PLOT THUS FAR
A drama centered around a promising football running back during his senior year in college.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
50 Cent stars as gifted college running back Deon in this touching drama. Deon’s world turns upside down when an unexpected crisis jeopardizes his professional ambitions — and causes him to look at himself and his life in a new way. The football scenes are directed very cinematically, with a lot of slow-mo used, which I didn’t care for. I would have liked if they were directed normally and more clearly, they were too showy for their own good. The cinematography is nothing to write home about, but there are a few nice shots.
“All Things Fall Apart” is way too melodramatic and the amateur screenplay doesn’t offer any meaningful or three-dimensional characters. Instead, we’re given bad caricatures with poorly written lines and monologues, including an embarrassing speech Mario Van Peebles has to give at the end of the film about the qualities of every race and how they can blend together to form a great person. It’s just badly written and angered me more than uplifted me, which I know wasn’t intentional. 50 Cent’s bland acting didn’t help. Like I said, I appreciate the effort at making a film about his friend’s life, and injecting some social commentary into the film, but it’s all so forced and badly done.
The Blu-Ray comes with no special features. The A/V Quality is pretty strong with a DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track. The 1080p transfer shows that even a low-key director like Van Peebles can shoot in HD with the best of them. However, the lack of a commentary robs fans of a chance to learn more about the film. In the end, I’d recommend a rental.
RELEASE DATE: 02/14/2012
