When Nelsan Ellis died, he
still had one last movie coming out in the future. That movie is called True to
the Game. I wasn’t able to see it in theaters. But I was able to see it when it
came out on DVD. I could not rent it so I bought it for myself so that I could
review it for this blog. If I don’t wind up liking it, then let me know so I
can give you a copy if you want it. Expect regular updates to continue every
Thursday when the show returns on Monday, unless otherwise noted in the future.
Enjoy the review of Nelsan Ellis’s last filmed role.
We begin with what seems to be
a woman who is making drugs. She puts them in a bag, presumably to sell or have
others use. There are then two women who talk to each other on the phone. She
gets in a car with a person.
We now get to Nelsan Ellis’s
character in a car with someone else. He talks to at least two women on the
phone. But then he arrives at some place that might be a club. There is a
rapper performing on the stage when whoever Nelsan Ellis is playing walks into
the place. There isn’t much of a point to this yet.
I don’t know if there is some
sort of deal potentially going on or not. I don’t know who this woman is and
how important she is yet. But there is something going down with Nelsan (which
is what I’m going to call this character until I learn his name) and some other
people that he work with, apparently, but not in a legal way, it seems.
The name of Nelsan’s character
is King. That is probably a last name that he goes by. He talks to a person
named Gina, but she is weirded out by the encounter since he knows things that
he shouldn’t, it seems. Gina goes outside to talk to a person who might be her
daughter or could just be a friend. A shooting happens and people scatter.
King winds up at a restaurant
with Gina. She doesn’t like what he does. He admits to being a criminal and
being good at it. I always love how people discuss secrets openly in public
places for anyone to hear (sarcasm). He is Muslim, although he doesn’t practice
the tenants. Am I spelling that right? He does take her phone number. What’s up
with this? I guess we have some of hook-up culture at work.
Gina witnesses a murder in
what could only be another moment of blackness that we’re sure to see more of
in the future. Someone gets upset about calling a machine and not being able to
pay a bill. But King gives her money and wants to help.
There is a gathering of women
at some sort of dinner or afterwards. There is a lot of odd talk going on
throughout this. Gina is one of these people, although it is a bit hard to tell
who she is right away. That, and there might be more than one Gina. There is
probably just one Gina, though.
King meets with various people
and someone wants to work with him. We then see him meet up with Gina again
after his failed attempt to get her to skip class. He agrees to dinner with
her. But why is her place considered safer to her than a public restaurant?
It seems that King is at a
poker game and topless women are dancing there. We then see King at the dinner
he talked about. We then get to people at a barber shop. This jumps around a
lot. And why are barber shops such a big deal in black culture? What’s weird is
that I’ve never paid for a haircut. I’ve never had to go anywhere besides my
house to get my hair cut at.
Gina thinks that it is good
that King got on her bus and gave her time. But she decides to get on a plane
with him and go to Hollywood. Where were they? There are random people in car
that talk about things and see something and I don’t quite get it all.
King and Gina are now out with
horses on a beach. What’s the f word that they keep saying? Why are there
horses on a beach? King and Gina kiss. Who is Winston? Is that the first name
of King? It seemed like it was a different person to me. But who are these
random two dudes?
King meets up with some person
who might be a crime boss who is higher up than King is. Again, we switch
around to something else with Gina at a fancy place willing to buy expensive
trinkets that seem like they aren’t needed.
The two random guys kill
people. King and Gina hook up. They could have done more with a hook up scene
in an R rated movie, but I’m not complaining. King and Gina then wind up back
at their home. Only there is a problem when Gina gets home. Sarah was killed in
the shootout. Who was she? Well, other than the person who died. I can’t keep
track of people. Winston was killed for being disobedient, but seems. King is
upset about the hit. I think that he’s more upset that Sarah was part of it.
King even goes as far as breaking things because he’s so upset.
Gina is upset over Sarah’s
death and the idea that King might have had something to do with it. We then
see King doing the actual praying that Muslims do. He tries to call Gina, but
doesn’t get her. Is Sarah her name or is it Sahara? Or is it something else
entirely?
King, if that really is his name and not his
title, decides that he wants out of the game. But he made it seem like he
wanted out for a woman other than Gina. People want to be a new king. Also,
this is set in Philadelphia. I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom.
Gina shares her love poetry
with King. Talk about the game is seen throughout this whole movie. I still
don’t know who this random woman is that King talks to time to time who wants
him, but he doesn’t seem interested in is. Does that make sense? Anyways, King
tries to teach the game to a new player. He might have issues and growing pains
with all of that.
People get shot going into a
club of some sort. King meets up more with Gina. He lies about a fire in order
to work on the situation. Gina winds up getting kidnapped. Whatever the real
name of King is, I can’t tell. It seems too complicated.
King pays to get Gina back and
she’s okay afterwards, it seems. Then he winds up trying to get revenge on the
woman who helped the main villain. She winds up dead. King wants to get out of
the game and maybe he is. Was killing the woman the last thing he had to do? He
gets engaged to Gina. But there was a problem and he winds up dead, which more
bad people shooting him. This seems like an odd end, considering how Nelsan
Ellis died, that his character is dead too.
After a montage of moments in
the movie, Viola, who I think is the mother or someone of Gina, ends up at her
place. Viola is King’s mother. Viola is kicking Gina out of the place she was
living at with King, or whatever his name was.
She wasn’t able to go to the
funeral as she didn’t know where it was. She seemed to have issues with his
parents. She talks to a friend of King’s who ends up trying to help some, but
not doing much. She gets a letter from her college professor. She gets an
internship offer. Will she get it? It seems like it is hers for the taking if
she wants it. She winds up somehow getting the money from King’s safe. She then
drives off for New York, ending the movie. There might have been hints that
someone, possibly King who is alive, might have been watching her, but I don’t
know for sure if that was just strange camera angles that they chose for that.
Well, I might keep this movie,
even if that wasn’t as great as other movies. The religious overtones were a
bit nice, even if they seemed out of place and strange. The movie jumped around
a whole lot. Not everything was easy to identify and make sense of. But I still
think that it worked, for the most part. I don’t know what else there is to say
about my opinion of the movie. And I wish that the ending made more sense than
it did.
This blog is now returning to
Thursdays after the new episode aired. The show starts again on Mondays at 10/9
Central only CBS. I might explain more of things in the next post. But my blog
will be updated on Thursdays for the upcoming season. If anything changes, I’ll
let you know. I’m finally back with this blog, since I had nothing to post
about here during its hiatus. I’ll see you next week with the season premiere.
For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.
