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Unsympathetic characters, plot make 'Never Die Alone' nearly intolerable
DMX in "Never Die Alone"
Fox Searchlight Pictures
King David spends the last few moments of his life with wanna-be journalist Paul (David Arquette), to whom King gives a collection of cassette tapes he's made, which fully narrate his life of murder and drugs. He's ultimately trying to pay penance for his past wrongs, to make things right -- or so he says. DMX is never convincing as a man who's decided to atone. And without a sincere aura around him, his death seems less tragic and more the logical outcome of his chosen profession.
Along the way, we meet Mike (Michael Ealy), another thug, but one who earns a sympathetic viewing early on because he's angry his kid sister is cutting class and insists she go to school. This is as noble as anyone gets in this film. But Ealy has a charisma and charm that reads as sincere rather than oily, which makes it all the more alarming when he later smacks this same sister in the face, uses her as bait and winds up costing her her life.
His anguish comes across as genuine -- Ealy is the only thing that saves this film from intolerability. It's not an easy film to watch, although that alone is no reason to turn away. "21 Grams" brutally, but with great success, serves up a satisfying if unsettling film about horrible things that happen to flawed people.
But "Never Die Alone's" big idea is that you never can redeem yourself from a life of crime, and in the end, you will pay dearly for it. Certainly, every main character pays an extreme price for his or her involvement. This film serves as a warning to anyone who might think easy money and easy drugs are a glamorous way into adulthood and deserves some commendation for that ideal, at least. But without a real reason to care about any of these characters -- save, possibly, Mike -- it's hard to come away from this feeling any deep sense of regret, fear or sorrow over lost chances and wretched lives.
