Synopsis
Last Man Standing takes a look at Death Row and how L.A.’s street gang culture had come to dominate its business workings, as well as an association with corrupt LA police officers who were also gang affiliated. It would be this world of gang rivalry and dirty cops that would claim the lives of the world’s two greatest rappers: Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.
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Cast
- Tupac ShakurSelf (archive footage)
- The Notorious B.I.G.Self (archive footage)
- Suge KnightSelf (archive footage)
- Snoop DoggSelf (archive footage)
- Pam BrooksSelf
- Russell PooleSelf (archive footage)
- Bernard ParksSelf (archive footage)
- Dr. DreSelf (archive footage)
- Sean CombsSelf (archive photos)
- Voletta WallaceSelf (archive footage)
Recommendations
- 80
CineVue
Broomfield’s triumph is in reimagining Biggie and Tupac’s murders out of their mythology and into a new context in which they are emblematic of a social malaise characterised by toxic masculinity, misogyny, racism, and police corruption. - 80
Variety
In Last Man Standing, Broomfield comes close to answering the questions — of guilt and recrimination — that have hung over these murders for too long. - 80
The Guardian
Here it seems that Death Row Records was simply a criminal organisation, of which rap music was a byproduct. The talent it somehow nurtured in this way looks even more tragically fragile. - 50
The New York Times
The new movie is less cohesive than “Biggie and Tupac,” and Broomfield is not suited to documentaries with willing subjects. - 42
IndieWire
It’s a decent Cliff’s Notes version of the narrative with glimmers of something far more fascinating. It just feels like Broomfield missed the point on saying anything ground-breaking. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
As an update to his 2002 effort on the same subject, Biggie and Tupac, this film provides new testimony about Knight and the alleged role of corrupt LAPD cops in Smalls’ murder. But it mostly proves a tired rehashing of familiar material that doesn’t justify its 105-minute running time. - 38
RogerEbert.com
Last Man Standing is a startlingly scattershot piece of filmmaking from a director who normally has a sure, personal hand on his projects.
