This movie truly is dope in many different ways! Dope was directed by Rick Famuyiwa who most recently is known for doing some episodes of the beloved Disney+ Mandalorean series! The movie stars Shameik Moore (Spider-Man Into The Spider Verse), Toni Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Kiersey Clemons (Neighbors 2). These group of kids are best friends who end up going to a drug dealers birthday party and gets mixed into some bad business. In a bad predicament they have to figure out the best way out and make it to college!
From the music, the acting, editing, style and storytelling, this movie is fantastic. It’s almost near perfect film for me. A huge shoutout to Shaneik who plays Malcolm, the main character. He absolutely steals every scene that he is in. I’m super happy he was able to become Miles Morales in the new Spider Verse movie that will open even more doors for him. He is an actor to look for. The music in this movie is perfectly chosen to give a nice over all tone of the movie. I can listen to this soundtrack all day. I also love the fact that a lot of it is inspired by 90’s hip hop. Costume design is also very much on point and really helps identify who these kids are, personality wise. This movie is beautifully directed and you can tell that they cared about the shots they filmed. There is a great use of framing and tracking shots. One specifically of them on bikes riding down a road. Editing is done with such great precision and made the movie have some great creative scenes. The story itself is emotional, fun, crazy and put a smile on my face the whole time.
Final thoughts! From beginning to the end, the movie keeps you engaged! I attached myself to the characters and immediately loved who they were. There is a great overall theme and message the movie gets across which is delivered perfectly. It’s a message that is very important even now. We all have perspectives and assumptions of people because where people come from and how they look. Finding ones identity and the importance of that is heavily hinted at in this film. I think this is a very important coming of age story and delivers a very important message people should learn. Highly recommend watching this movie!