Paid in Full (2002) Reviews

• I was hoping for this...

  Bring Da Ruckus2002-01-23

  I am glad that there is a movie based on the lives of legendary Harlem kingpins Alpo, AZ and Rich Porter coming out. I saw this movie and it really went back to the old school w/ music from Rakim("Paid In Full" which is the theme of the movie). It shows the ups and downs of the drug game and is focused mainly on AZ(David Sherwin(Wood) Harris). The surprise came from rapper Cam'ron as Alpo(but is called Rico). I don't want to give it away but for those people who checked the street documentary, "Game Over" would really understand this movie as well as those who knew AZ, Rich and Alpo personally and those who know the legacy of these hustlers. It gets a 9 from me, I loved it

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• Wow, what a great film!!!

  jdb-42004-11-03

  I was scanning through the channels one night and stopped on this film. Man, was I glad. It's nice to see the filmmakers trust the audience and their film by not cluttering up scenes with music. The silence was golden. Great direction, great acting and great music! I could tell this was based on a true story. It was so edgy and gritty it could not have been made up. The hardest part of making a true story work is keeping it real, they did that. I recognized all the actors, some one needs to hire Cam'ron he was great. I don't think you can compare this with New Jack City, I liked New Jack City but it was allot softer the Paid In Full. I could feel the tension in some of the scenes, it was powerful. I might buy this one.

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• this one shines....

  whoTheFuqRyou2003-02-06

  I saw this one a while back in the end of 2001, and I was very interested as it was the true story of the drug game in the mid eighties. This movie is actually AZ's side of the story(AZ is Ace played by Wood Harris[Above The Rim, Remember The Titans, The wire]). well, it tells the story of drug kingpins AZ(Ace), Rich Porter(Mitch)and Alberto "Alpo" Martinez(Rico). Cam'ron really displays some actin' skills in his part as the trigger-happy, O-Dog reminiscent Rico("alpo"), Wood Harris gives a very different performance from his previous roles in Above The Rim and The Wire as the laid back Ace. but this one belonged to Mekhi Phifer(8-Mile, Clockers) as Mitch(Rich Porter) he really came out and busted out Rich to a "T"! the certain flare that was necessary was there... And havin' DJ Brucie B all in the movie really put the icing on the cake for a rugged street feel, VERY Authentic... underrated movie - this needs to be seen 10/10

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• Solid and engaging narrative even if it is nothing that remarkable but a good turn from Harris raises it a bit

  bob the moo2007-05-06

  It is the mid-eighties in Harlem and Ace is working in a laundrette making honest (if small) money while his friend Mitch is rolling in the ill-gotten gains of street dealing. However a chance meeting with Lulu sees him entering the cocaine market, albeit with tentative steps. When Mitch gets sent to jail for a stint, Ace fills the local gap, underselling his competition and keeping everyone fed to avoid beef. With Mitch back on the streets with new friend Rico, Ace continues to rise within his community but still maintaining his lowkey and quiet personae. However coming to the top draws more attention while the loud and aggressive Rico contrasts with Ace's style and trouble is not far away. It was the presence of Wood Harris that drew me to this film even if the hip hop stars in acting and producing roles did worry me that this was just going to be a basic modern blaxploitation movie that panders to the lowest common denominator to make cash. Based on a true story, it did offer me hope that it would be more than the usual rush to embrace lazy urban clichés and to a degree it does manage to sit above the usual standards of the genre. The connection in my head with The Wire probably didn't help because this is nowhere near the level that that series consistently operates at. Instead the narrative is fairly linear and straightforward but it is still interesting and well delivered. I'm not sure if I was totally convinced by the character of Ace all the time but he did make for a good centre piece and the film is less moved by the events around him than it is by how he is within them. As such Harris is actually very good and never looks like he is about to fall into cliché or easy action. To a lesser extent Phifer does the same. He has less to work with for the majority of the time but one or two later scenes show how good an actor he can be. The same cannot be said of Cam'ron who plays the cliché throughout. He is effective at it but that doesn't mean I should praise him for ticking boxes with his screen time. McBride, Hall, Morales are reasonable but I do question the value (other than marketing) of cameos from Noreaga, Fresh, Dash, Simmons and others. Director Stone does an OK job but is greatly helped by the sense of period that the film consistently has thanks to the design of sets and costumes. A solid narrative keeps it interesting, even if it is not really that surprising or clever. Of course compared to most hip hop films this is surprisingly good and it does benefit from being based on a true story and featuring good turns from Harris and, to a lesser extent, Phifer.

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• Lies, drugs, money and betrayals in real life (the movie is based on a true story)...

  jpschapira2005-05-15

  Charles Stone III knows where to put his characters and how to handle them. He knows where he wants to tell his stories because he has filmed in similar places in his movies. He knows about directing actors, about keeping the spectator focused on the film…His writers know about the way the characters talk, and about creating an interesting story that comes from real life so the viewer doesn't get bored…The team knew what they were doing messing with "Paid in Full". This piece comes in the groove of the movies we see from time to time about life in the neighborhood ("hood"), black people and their relationships, money problems, hard life, "this is how we do it here" and the other stuff…Phrases and situations like this are all over this film; combined with an appropriate sense of reality and personality. There wouldn't be success in these movies if it wasn't for the characters. They're so important because they have the responsibility of making the story different. It's always the same things, what usually happens; but the characters are the ones that change and we get to know the life of every one of them. And that's probably the magic the movie achieves, because it's about these raw-written, really developed and peculiar characters. It's about the way they are talking, saying "my n...", "this n...", "my man" and lots of other expressions. It's about changes in a place that seems to be the same all the time, from the outside; but it's different from the inside. Changes that occur because of (and I come back because it's the way it is) the characters. The movie starts as many others these days, giving a glance of the present. Quick, simple, for you to contemplate a character bleeding as he sees (or imagines) notes falling from the sky. Then we are taken to the past; to see what happened before the "glance": in the beginning. Like most of the times, the situations in the past take more time of the film than the ones in the present. I won't mention anything about these situations that involve, among other things, a guy who worked in a dry cleaner but then became the king of money and drugs; another guy who had the money to help his family and to buy nice things before he screwed up, a guy who is fascinated with money and can't control it; the women that celebrate or suffer for the men's actions. Wood Harris plays Ace, the one who tells the story; and there's a reason why he tells it: in his story things will go right or wrong to the people, but they will all experience something because everything is connected. Harris finds the perfect note for the role, with the correct tone of voice each time he's saying something, and the mix of innocent and intelligent looks. I saw him in "Hendrix" so I recognized his face; but this is another performance by a promising actor. Mekhi Phifer consolidated his name in Hollywood long ago. He shocked me with his role in the powerful "O" and I couldn't recognize him as Future in "8 mile". He adds up another powerful performance to his list as Mitch; we'll be seeing Mekhi around. Newcomer in the acting scene, Cam'Ron, screams too much and puts arrogant faces, and I can't know if he's doing it right because I haven't seen him before. He didn't seem out of place, but it was kind of awkward. I should also mention Chi McBride wandering around the scenes with a lot of style. The rest of the cast (female and male and younger), achieved amazingly by pros Kerry Barden, Billy Hopkins and Suzanne Smith (experienced in casting people for films of this type), accomplish decent performances just to match everything with the story. What's left for director Charles Stone III is to give some revealing and profound shots in the movie's most dramatic scenes, lead his actors to their glory and generate a realistic environment that traps anyone who sees it. The film editing is also remarkable. All work of the team, messing with the film. Because the characters in the film mess with each other, and it's a messy film, you don't know why Ace keeps seeing notes falling from the sky, and from where he is telling the story he narrates. We just listen to it; but in some way the movie could be also messing with us.

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