True to the Game

True to the Game trilogy is my favorite urban fiction collection, hands down. I had such high hopes for the film. Things I liked: Colombus Short surprisingly portrayed Quadir better than I initially thought he would. The clothing choice for the men was on point and stayed true to how I imagined them to look, based on the book. Qua's right hand man, Tyriq, was very convincing. I enjoyed his character. Jarell had some off moments, but I think his character was well-played and added the nemesis-type flair to keep it interesting. Things I didn't like: Gena is quite lovely as I imagined but her acting was sub-par at best, as was 95% of the cast! Rasun, Qua's other righthand, was absolutely unconvincing. Draya, Shirell, could've been left out of the movie altogether. She has no acting ability at all. Aubrey was not in the books at all. Her character was forced and she added no value to the movie in my opinion, just like Shirell.

Those are major components off the top of my head. I wanted to see a classic, to match the legend of the books. I watched it 3x in 2days to come to my final conclusion, but at best; I'd consider this a B-league film. An exponentially higher budget and a more experienced cast would have placed this film at the top. I believe TTTG would be mentioned with the likes of Goodfellas, Paid in Full, Dead Presidents, etc had it been given the proper resources and due diligence it deserves. Very disappointing. I would love to see it continue with the major escrow this one needed, maybe even scrapped and remade from scratch. The movie does the legacy of Quadir and Gena absolutely no justice whatsoever! Come harder next time, Miss Woods. We need stories like yours on the big screen!