1/5 Hip hop film ought to be better than this
  by Samuel McKewon (Lincoln, NE)
"State Property," a hip-hop variation of the "Scarface" tale, is so reprehensible it approaches a snuff eight-millimeter. Like a lot of rap music, which thinks the existence of wanton cruelty, violence and pain automatically legitimizes a song drawing out its every crass detail, the movie is a cheerfully amoral romp through all the horrible, totalitarian things one bully can do to a weaker person - humiliation, dehumanization, torture, murder - with a turn of the tables at the end that supposed to comment on this romp as if it was all very, very bad. Sure. Ask the film's admirers - or even the participants, including indicted star Beanie Siegel - where they stand on the use of force to snuff out anything - enemies, annoyances, acquaintances, even friends - that interfere with their designs of all-consuming power. Dictators rise on such thoughts.

Siegel plays a local criminal who, after a thug epiphany of sorts at a topless bar, wipes out legions of drug dealers in an effort to carve out turf. There are stockpiles of men willing to do his bidding while he watches on in his neon-colored swish-swish outfit, pawing at a fence like some caged animal -yes, I'm not kidding, Siegel paws - as a mass execution goes down on a basketball court. To show he is some kind of leader, Siegel occasionally spits out obvious truisms; to show he has a trace of humanity, the movie trots a girlfriend and child across the screen, the idea being if you have them, you must be something less than a total bogeyman, although such accoutrements didn't excuse Stalin, or Saddam.

Because "State Property" cannot possibly condone this behavior for an entire movie, Siegel eventually matches up against an equal armed foe and the fate that's predetermined for a straight-away lunatic like him.

Unlike Hype Williams' "Belly," which very much wanted to have a message but buried it under the pyrotechnics of cars, girls and jewelry needed to pull young black audiences into the theaters, "State Property" has no aspirations beyond being hard and cold. Directed by Tron Anderson and produced by Siegel's music producer, Damon Dash, the movie is borne out of an appalling, but unsurprising, ignorance of what makes a life worth living. There is no hope, just a few fleeting moments of material wealth, booties and gun-toting power trips.

1/5 State Property
  by SID (BOSTON)
First of all I find fault with the opening credits where it states that this movie is inspired by actual events. Whatever, this movie is inspired by the unimaginative imaginations of a few guys who watched Scarface one two many times and decided they wanted to live out their fantasies through film. The writing is horrible. The acting is horrible. Beanie Sigel and the other characters in his little mob are underdeveloped to the point where they all seam to be the same person. Beanie Sigel, as the main character, has absolutely no motivation for going on a murderous rampage in order to build his drug empire other than the fact that he was bored one day at a strip club. Nothing happens in this movie that makes it stand out from the others in this genre. It's exactly the same story only the names of the characters have changed. Young thug sells drugs, young thug wants more money, young thug kills many to get money, young thug expands territory gets power. You know the rest. Don't waste your time with this one. And if you're one of the idiots who actually thought this was a good movie you need to think about exposing yourself to better films so you'll know the difference between good and bad.

1/5 Slavery For Today's Youth
  by Jess B. Semple
This is a terrible movie that I gave 1 star because I couldn't give any fewer. It features the usual idols given primarily to the black youth of today, hip hoppers playing gangstas who have no respect for anything or anyone other than money. It is another one of those blaxploitation specials in which there is literally no figure of any redeeming value. This explains the almost endless series of beatings, shootings, and overall ignorance portrayed in sequence, and served up as some sort of story. It's only entertainment they say, but they are typecast without even knowing it, foolishly dying to portray a fantasy image...psychologically bound as tight as any slave was ever shackeled.

1/5 Strait up garbage
  by
This movie coulnd get any worse. Hears da ups n downs
UP:
It's has money, hoes, dough
A so-so motto
Down:
Beanie is not a great boss
Like that dude said, this is basicly a african-American Scarface
The story is way too predictable, too much forshadowing
It's also copying New Jack City, killing the competition
The American Dream, that's been used too much
The get down, or lay down motto gets annoying
The actin' iz strait up ugly n fake
hell, even the blood is fake
Roc-a-fella has alot of money, and make a movie that coulda been done betta on a camcorder
The sayin' at the end is just like the words on the cover of scarface
This movie could be the worst movie ever

1/5 This movie should be confiscated
  by Nuisance (Miami)
I love Beanie Sigel. He is the most underrated rapper out of Rocafella Records but this movie stunk like roadkill. Beanie plays a bully who runs around with a group of thugs that beat up on people in their hometown and issue them a warning that goes "get down or lay down"! The main flaw of the movie is that nobody can act. Beanie is so laughable in his role that sometimes I crack up when he comes on screen. He is not the only one who should stick to rapping. Memphis Bleek's character was a riot for all the wrong reasons(when he shot a Beanie's car for honking the horn at him, I laughed so hard that I peed a little. Damon Dash and Jay-z are stiff as mannequins in this movie also. You cant tell that the director knew that this film was rank and told them to keep going anyway. The funniest part is when Beanie's lawyers tell him to cop a plea for a guy he just shot. Lol! His reaction was a hoot! In short this is a bad movie simple and plain. If you want to watch it to see how bad it is then fine. But you were warned.