Last Man Standing: Nick Broomfield Biggie & Tupac sequel fluffs
Documentary icon Nick Broomfield returns with a kind-of sequel to his 2002 film Biggie & Tupac, his investigation into the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur in the mid-90s. Last Man Standing investigates the life and influence of Suge Knight, the man whom he believed was responsible for the infamous deaths of both rappers through his love for power and connection to the world of crime.
After Knight’s 2018 imprisonment, Broomfield returns to the world of hip-hop with the hope that his absence will encourage people to reveal the truth about his behaviour, the culture at his company Death Row Records, and any possible interference that might have led to the murders remaining unsolved.
This is not the first time Broomfield has returned to old ground. He famously revisited Aileen Wuornos prior to her execution in 2003’s Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. However, that film had the advantage of its subject still being available, and Broomfield being somewhat involved in her story given the impact of his previous film.
Like his 2018 film Whitney: Can I Be Me, this time the person being covered isn’t around, and those close to them aren’t talking. Instead, we get Death Row engineers, security, gang members, extended relatives, even people with photographs and anecdotes eager to get in front of a camera, but nobody has much to say. We hear various versions of what has already been covered, about how Tupac was lured into gang culture by Knight, how the deaths were mysterious, and that there may have been police corruption at the heart of those investigations.
It’s interesting, particularly when paired with archive interviews and performances that add spice to the narrative. It quickly becomes clear, however, that there will be no key piece of evidence that blows this story wide open. There is talk of a photo that connects the police to Smalls’ murderers, which disappeared around the time of the investigation and has never been seen since. Does it exist? Maybe, but like so much in this film, it’s conjecture told by a witness who is a quarter of a century removed from the fact.
The rest is war stories, where middle aged men recall a time where death was a daily occurrence, and powerful men did as they pleased through the force of money or violence. While the emphasis is on Knight, there is an interesting take on who Shakur was as a person. Described by one interviewee as “a kind-hearted person, who got lost in the illusion of being tough”, the stories and footage show a very young man whose boundless passion was channelled into the wrong places.
Broomfield is one of the original ‘in front of camera’ documentarians, not quite as spotlight hungry as Michael Moore, perhaps, but there’s a sense of glee whenever he becomes involved in the story he’s telling. The director is only heard here, but a lot of emphasis is put on moments such as when a potential interviewee suspects him of being police, or when a producer talks him up by saying things like “they’re from England, they crazy” or “they white, but they black”. In a film that talks about real life gang warfare, revelling in such hype is a bit embarrassing.
Considering the numerous films and TV specials made about Biggie and Tupac, Last Man Standing could have been a lot worse. There is some considered debate about what really happened, but nothing more than conjecture that most viewers will have guessed anyway. Come for the archive footage, but don’t expect any answers.
Last Man Standing is in cinemas from 2nd July.