| Snipes | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Rich Murray |
| Written by | Rich Murray Rob Wiser |
| Produced by | Rich Murray Chris Schwartz |
| Starring | Nelly Dean Winters |
| Cinematography | Alex Buono |
| Edited by | Seth Anderson |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes[1] 107 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Snipes is a 2001 American drama film directed by Rich Murray and featuring Nelly and Dean Winters.[3][4] It is Murray's feature directorial debut.[1]
Snipes starts off with a young man named Erik (Sam Jones Jr) looking up to this rapper called PROLIFIK (Nelly). The young man works for the Hype Studio as the person who puts up flyers of the upcoming rappers , PROLIFIK.
He frequently speaks with Cheryl (Zoe Saldana) who also works at Hype Studio. Bobby Starr owns this studio and also works for a dangerous criminal named Johnnie Marandin who already despises him for sleepy with his daughter when he was only suppose to show her the ropes of the business. There is a problem with PROLIFIK though. He has already spent his advance money and Bobby is waiting for the second album but for some reason PROLIFIK can’t produce it.
Erik and his friend Malik want to get into the rap game, Malik raps. Erik steals the studio key from Cheryl’s desk and him and Malik sneak into the studio to record one night. While there, they witness a murder and escape. The next day it seems as though the double murder didn’t happen. Erik starts to question it, even telling Cheryl about it. Meanwhile Malik is visited at his home by Bobby Starr and two other gangsters. Bobby reveals that important tapes were stolen from the studio that night and he assumes Malik and Erik stole them. When Malik is about to deny being at the studio, Erik calls leaving a voicemail heard by them all, revealing that him and Malik were at the studio. While distracted Malik is able to escape outside being closely chased by Bobby and the gangsters, as he makes his get away he is struck by a car and dies on the scene. Erik is crushed when he finds out.
Erik and Cheryl have decided to flee and hold up at a motel. Soon enough, Bobby finds Erik and kidnaps him to a warehouse. He continuously beats Erik, even slicing his nose, asking about the tapes. After revealing some crucial information, Bobby lets Erik go but only for a short while. After meeting up with Cheryl, she reveals to Erik that the whole thing was a scheme. PROLIFIK isn’t the real PROLIFIK. The real PROLIFIK was named Jamal. PROLIFIK that became the rapper (Nelly) real name is Clarence. Clarence had his cousin Jamal with him one night during a drive by and Jamal got killed. The day before that Cheryl had brought a tape to Bobby and Bobby wanted to sign PROLIFIK (Jamal). Since Clarence knew every word to every song and the mannerisms and Bobby had never seen him, Clarence decided to portray the role of PROLIFIK which was the reason he couldn’t produce a second album.
Bobby is approached by Johnnie and his henchmen. Johnnie tells Bobby he has let him down especially for his relations with his daughter. Bobby is trying to persuade Johnnie that he will get the second album out bringing in more money, Johnnie doesn’t want to hear it. Johnnie tells Bobby they are going to go “for a ride” presumably to kill Bobby.
Clarence came up with a scheme. He decided to get his friends to “kidnap him” and ask Bobby for a million dollars and they will give him the tape. The tape is revealed to be an unreleased second album that the real Prolifk made. The plan goes awry once Cheryl and Erik get involved. While Erik is away, PROLIFIK kidnaps Cheryl and brings her to a basement where he beats and eventually shoots her, Erik arrives and is able to talk to Cheryl before she unfortunately dies. Prolifk who is hurt but still alive pulls a gun on Erik, Erik reveals his own gun shooting PROLIFIK to death.
Erik goes on to live his life after all the tragic events that went down.
The film has a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5] Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun awarded the film one and a half stars.[2]
