LAST MAN STANDING

Nick Broomfield dices with Death Row Records.

FILM OUT 2 JULY CINEMAS

Nick Broomfield’s latest investigative doc returns to territory explored in one of his best-known works, 2002’s Biggie & Tupac. One of the key players in that film, Suge Knight, is again central; following Knight’s 2015 conviction for manslaughter, Broomfield examines his legacy as a musical innovator – he co-founded Death Row Records – and his links to the deaths of two of hip-hop’s greatest icons.

Widening the scope, the director also looks beyond the music industry, probing the violence, misogyny and gang culture from which Death Row evolved. Broomfield’s knack for getting people to open up to him remains extraordinary. But though he captures several shocking testimonies, there are times where it feels a bit too anecdotal, hyperbolic and conspiratorial, evoking unwelcome memories of Broomfield’s iffy Kurt & Courtney. As such, some accounts may need to beXtxaxkxexn with a large pinch of salt.

Unreliable narrators aside, there’s a near-Shakespearean level of tragedy to this tale of murder, betrayal and epic falls from grace. The use of archive clips is masterful, and there’s a devastating moment where Broomfield’s friend Danny Boy sings Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ - just as he did to Tupac Shakur as he lay dying. Knowing what fate had in store for Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the footage of them saddens as much as it electrifies; as Tupac’s producer Tracy Robinson puts it, “It didn’t need to turn out this way.” Leila Latif