Sunday, March 6, 2016

Movie Review: Dope


By definition, "dope" is a slang word used by most teenagers around the world. In this case, it is a movie of a black teenage boy who is brighter than most kids in my school. At the beginning of the movie, he introduces himself as Malcolm Adekanbi. 


Malcolm does not own a car nor does he have any siblings. He lives in the stereotypical black neighborhood where drug dealers sit on the hood of their cars and wait for buyers. 


Malcolm has two friends named Jib and Diggy. As you can see, they are the three minorities of America. "But it's two black guys and a hispanic guy." Wrong. Diggy is actually a girl (pictured on the left with the C on her hat) and not only is she a girl but she is a lesbian. So there you have it, a movie about a lesbian, a black teenager, and a hispanic. But, they are not the entire point of the movie.


The three musketeers happen to go to the same school, what a coincidence. Malcolm goes on to list the things that white kids do. The list is called "White Shit" and it says that a white kid has a skateboard, owns a bunch of manga comics, whoever the hell Donald Glover is, they trash talk, listen to TV on the radio, get good grades, and apply to college. This becomes an important part of the movie because Malcolm (who is black) ends up doing this white shit.


Look who it is! It's Marcus from Short Term 12 and he seems to be playing the antagonist in this movie too. All he wants is Malcolm's shoes which he only gets ahold of one.


Malcolm then goes to talk to his College Advisor. As a CA, you should be the one motivating your students to apply to colleges and apply for as many scholarships as you possibly can. All this CA does is tell Malcolm that his chances of getting into Harvard are slim to none. This causes Malcolm to feel attacked and gives him a reason to prove his CA wrong.


The three amigos begin biking home but The Crips were too busy filming a music video in the middle of the usual route so they decide to take the long way home. Malcolm then runs into A$AP Rocky's character who just so happens to be chasing after Malcolm's love interest.


She ends up being a total brainiac who wants nothing to do with any guy except Malcolm. She then ends up inviting him to A$AP's party where "shit hits the fan" in the matter of seconds.


So, the party gets raided and Malcolm ends up asking for a ride home after he basically saves Nakia's life in the party.


Malcolm brings up prom and how he does not normally go to the school parties. Instead, he stays home and studies or hangs out with his friends to make music. Nakia tells Malcolm that she will go to prom with him if he helps her pass her G.E.D exam.


The next day, at school, the group comes across a stack of drugs in Malcolm's bag. They realize that his bag was loaded the night of the party because no one would suspect that he would have any narcotics on him. This ends up becoming the main conflict of the movie.


(Please ignore the random volume sign)
Malcolm gets a call from who he believes to be his allies but instead they turn out to be the enemies so Malcolm has to find a way to get home and get away from the bad guys because they have a tracker on him.


Malcolm ends up losing the bad guys when he leaves the phone on a bus that his mom happens to be driving. This gives Malcolm enough time to flee and get to the dealers house.


Malcolm does not meet the dealer because he is busy working but he ends up finding the dealer because the dealer is, guess who, the Harvard associate. So, of course, Malcolm is putting the pieces of the puzzle together and realizing that he needs to make a decision between the drugs and school.


Malcolm ends up selling the drugs on an untraceable website that gives you coin money. He ends up selling almost all of his dope within the school year.


The morning of the ACT,  Malcolm's school is being searched by police dogs. He makes a quick dash to his locker to grab the remaining dope that is inside and runs back to class in order to save himself from being arrested. 


A bunch of different things happen but the last 10 minutes of the movie are by far my favorite. I do not have the words to describe the final scenes so, instead, I will copy and paste the script of the masterpiece:
Let me tell you about two students. Student "A" is a straight-A student who lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He plays in a punk band with his best friends. He loves to skateboard and ride on his BMX bike. His favorite TV show is Game Of Thrones and his favorite band is The Thermals. He's a '90s hip-hop geek. Student "B" goes to an underfunded school... where teachers who would rather not be there... teach kids who really don't care. He lives with a single mother, doesn't know his father and has sold dope. Now close your eyes. Picture each of these kids
and tell me what you see. Be honest. No one's going to judge you. Now open your eyes. So, am I student "A" or student "B"? Am I a geek or a menace? For most of my life, I've been caught in between who I really am... and how I'm perceived, in between categories and definition. I don't fit in. And I used to think that that was a curse, but... now I'm slowly starting to see... maybe it's a blessing. See, when you don't fit in, you're forced to see the world from many different angles and points of view. You gain knowledge, life lessons from disparate people and places. And those lessons, for better or worse, have shaped me.
So, who am I? Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Malcolm Adekanbi. I'm a straight-A student with nearly perfect SAT scores. I taught myself how to play guitar and read music.
I have stellar recommendations and diverse extracurricular activities. I am a Google Science Fair participant, and in three weeks, I helped make over $100,000 for an online business. So, why do I want to attend Harvard?
If I was white, would you even
have to ask me that question?



1 comment:

  1. I really need to watch this movie because it seems to be right down my ally of drug related movies.

    ReplyDelete