Tupac Resurrection

Admirable and despicable, charismatic and chaotic, Tupac Shakur epitomizes hip-hop culture. His life and death remain its defining tale.

If Tupac could talk to us now — and some do believe the black Elvis will rise again — he'd surely explain, with the conviction that sold 35 million records, exactly how and why he ended up shot to death in Las Vegas in Suge Knight's BMW.

Without that perspective, though, the picture is incomplete — like "Tupac: Resurrection."

Produced and directed by MTV documentarian Lauren Lazin, the woman behind the music channel's "Sex in the 90s," "Rockumentary" and "Cribs" features, "Resurrection" is executive produced by Afeni Shakur, mother of Tupac and guardian of his legacy. Ms. Shakur's participation ensured there would be plenty of actual Tupac songs in the movie, as opposed to the seven previous Tupac documentaries by everyone from his bodyguard to his girlfriend's brother.

Detaching Tupac's voice from his image allows Lazin to splice pieces of different interviews into elongated conversations. Tupac's many fans will remember many quotes and perhaps even hear where one interview morphs into another. Newcomers will simply marvel at Tupac's insight and intelligence. But after you get past the device of Tupac as narrator, "Resurrection" provides little substantial new material.

For all but non-fans, the rest has been seen before, especially after Tupac moves to Marin City, Calif., catches on with the rap group Digital Underground and embarks on his solo career. This is where the "in his own words" format works worst. Instead of Tupac abruptly transforming from naive lip-syncher to tattooed Thug Lifer, we could have learned about the transition from the sculptors themselves (like Digital Underground leader Shock G and various Marin City no-names, who provide engrossing details in other documentaries).

Entire books, documentaries and Pulitzer Prizes have sprung from these events, yet "Resurrection" recycles Tupac's illogical insistence that he was set up by P. Diddy and Biggie Smalls. Oliver Stone would have won an Oscar with this material.

"Tupac: Resurrection" runs 90 minutes.