At first glance of the film's movie poster, many viewers, before seeing Ernest Dickerson's Never Die Alone (2004), will assume it is an action picture like Scarface (1983) and New Jack City (1991). This isn't an action picture, but a drama, although it does deserve comparison to the latter movies.
Never Die Alone is the story of a viscous, cold blooded, and evil man known as King David. As the movie opens, King David (DMX) is laying dead in a coffin. Many will see this as a spoiler, but it isn't. This movie isn't about the events that occur, but about the story and the characters.
As the film opens, King David has returned from Los Angeles to New York to repay a debt to a drug dealer known as Moon (Clifton Powell). Moon sends his boy, Mike (Michael Ealy), and another man to collect the money.
But then the pickup turns violent against Moon's request, and King David ends up getting stabbed in the process. He is helped by Paul (David Arquette), an earnest journalist who hangs around in the tough streets of Harlem. Paul comes to the aid of David, and, of course, King David dies.
Upon his death, King David gives Paul a nice car, money, jewelry, and eventually, Paul finds a collection of audiotapes chronicling the last ten years of David's life.
We learn that King David was a ladies' man. The women in his life were all drug users. But what King David does to these three women is monstrous: he falls in love with them, gets to know them, then hooks them on cocaine. Then he switches them to heroin without them knowing. What's monstrous is when he decides to give them a little "test." DMX, as King David, is hard and cold. Just as we begin to care and show sympathy for King David, we begin to show hatred towards this vile, and evil man. Through flashbacks and events, we realize that King David is a man who shows no apologies for the evil things he's done, and he makes them look like an everyday activity.
The film also seems to suggest that there is some sort of connection between both Mike and King David.
DMX has done some terrible films in the past, such as Romeo Must Die (2000), Exit Wounds (2001), and Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), which were all mindless action pictures meant to entertain, but in Never Die Alone, he gives his best performance up to date.
Never Die Alone is a good movie, but I felt that David Arquette's character was poorly developed, but he gives a good performance, anyway. In the end we never know whether he has shown remorse for King David or felt that he deserved to die for what he's done. But Paul is more of a pawn than a mover to the plot. Half the time, he doesn't realize how much danger he's putting his life in, such as when he drives around in King David's car.
Cinematographer-turned-director Ernest Dickerson creates a dark atmosphere and he keeps the film dark to the very end. He keeps the action scenes brief and brutal, and it doesn't distract the viewer away from the plot. This is his strongest work.
Never Die Alone is not an action picture. It's a movie about an evil man, who shows no apologies for the evil things he's done to others. By the end, the movie asks Paul, the journalist, and even the viewer, do you think King David really deserved to die?
Never Die Alone is the story of a viscous, cold blooded, and evil man known as King David. As the movie opens, King David (DMX) is laying dead in a coffin. Many will see this as a spoiler, but it isn't. This movie isn't about the events that occur, but about the story and the characters.
As the film opens, King David has returned from Los Angeles to New York to repay a debt to a drug dealer known as Moon (Clifton Powell). Moon sends his boy, Mike (Michael Ealy), and another man to collect the money.
But then the pickup turns violent against Moon's request, and King David ends up getting stabbed in the process. He is helped by Paul (David Arquette), an earnest journalist who hangs around in the tough streets of Harlem. Paul comes to the aid of David, and, of course, King David dies.
Upon his death, King David gives Paul a nice car, money, jewelry, and eventually, Paul finds a collection of audiotapes chronicling the last ten years of David's life.
We learn that King David was a ladies' man. The women in his life were all drug users. But what King David does to these three women is monstrous: he falls in love with them, gets to know them, then hooks them on cocaine. Then he switches them to heroin without them knowing. What's monstrous is when he decides to give them a little "test." DMX, as King David, is hard and cold. Just as we begin to care and show sympathy for King David, we begin to show hatred towards this vile, and evil man. Through flashbacks and events, we realize that King David is a man who shows no apologies for the evil things he's done, and he makes them look like an everyday activity.
The film also seems to suggest that there is some sort of connection between both Mike and King David.
DMX has done some terrible films in the past, such as Romeo Must Die (2000), Exit Wounds (2001), and Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), which were all mindless action pictures meant to entertain, but in Never Die Alone, he gives his best performance up to date.
Never Die Alone is a good movie, but I felt that David Arquette's character was poorly developed, but he gives a good performance, anyway. In the end we never know whether he has shown remorse for King David or felt that he deserved to die for what he's done. But Paul is more of a pawn than a mover to the plot. Half the time, he doesn't realize how much danger he's putting his life in, such as when he drives around in King David's car.
Cinematographer-turned-director Ernest Dickerson creates a dark atmosphere and he keeps the film dark to the very end. He keeps the action scenes brief and brutal, and it doesn't distract the viewer away from the plot. This is his strongest work.
Never Die Alone is not an action picture. It's a movie about an evil man, who shows no apologies for the evil things he's done to others. By the end, the movie asks Paul, the journalist, and even the viewer, do you think King David really deserved to die?