BODIED: Your New Favourite Hip-Hop Movie

Bodied is going to be your new favourite hip-hop movie… that is if you aren’t easily offended.

‘Easily’ being the key word there because all the offensive language in Joseph Kahn’s new film serves to deliver a blistering satirical critique of words and their contexts in today’s politically correct culture, tackling race, sexism, misogyny, stereotypes and just about any other negative association people have slapped on hip-hop throughout its history.

Calum Worthy is perfectly cast

Like Get Out, the social commentary is created through truth in archetypes. Adam is the whitebread college student at the centre of Bodied. He wants to write a thesis on battle rap, focusing on the use of the N word, despite appearing to be unqualified to produce such a document. In a stroke of perfect casting, he’s played by Calum Worthy. Worthy may be familiar to this film’s likely audience as the ethically corrupt Alex Trimboli on the Netflix mockumentary American Vandal, but his global claim to fame is as a Disney Channel star on the network’s sitcom Austin and Ally, thus making him maybe the most culturally appropriate actor to portray Adam.

Worthy is excellent, not only for adeptly flipping his public image but also because he can genuinely rap. As Adam immerses himself in the world of battle rap, his subconscious obsession, and unrealised talent of thinking of diss lines in every situation turns him into a legitimate contender in the battle league. His first opponent is a rapper so bad (ironically played by one of the most talented battle rappers out there, Wild ‘n Out cast member Corey Charron), he provides an easy opportunity for Adam to demonstrate his long-gestating ability to deliver a killer freestyle.

Subversive narrative and savage roasts

He pursues Behn Grym, one of the top-tier battlers, for both the purposes of using him as the primary case study for his thesis but also for him to be somewhat of a mentor to him. Adam’s impressed and even nervous by Behn’s stature and confidence, but he doesn’t really know that the stage persona can be a facade, assuming stereotypical images about his new friend before getting to know him in a side-splitting sequence at Behn’s own home. Behn’s character is one of the many elements of Bodied that totally subverts ideas about and around hip-hop culture.

Adam begins to climb up the tiers of the league with the intention of being the best, a narrative structure which may be the only norm that Bodied follows. At the top of the food chain, there’s Megaton, a ruthless battler who succeeds not only because of his aggressive delivery but because of his even more vicious words. He’s portrayed by one of the most famous and talented battle rappers, Dizaster, largely channeling his real persona. Dizaster is so good that, when the first trailer for Bodied dropped, which featured Megaton absolutely destroying a timid nerdy opponent, many commenters who weren’t aware of him assumed that Eminem (who produced this movie) had written the verse because it was so hysterically savage.

Alex Larsen has written a thematically thick screenplay

Whether that verse was written by Dizaster or the screenwriter Alex “Kid Twist” Larsen, also a battle rapper, either way it’s reflective of the strong writing of this feature. Larsen’s utterly brilliant screenplay impressively engages with the themes that fall under the umbrella of the PC-ness of hip-hop. His understanding of sociology and the human psyche apparently comes from an autobiographical place as a bit of a nerd himself in this world, some of that nerdiness coming through in the many academic and literature references spoken by Adam and Maya (Rory Uphold, highly entertaining newcomer), Adam’s girlfriend who’s an archetypal ultra-liberal student.

Larsen’s characterisation is far more complex than in similar movies like 8 Mile and Patti Cake$ where you’re cornered into having sympathy for the lead character after everything in their life goes the wrong way. Hip-hop has largely been a voice for minorities, so Larsen opts for a conscious effort at depicting what it means when there’s a privileged white male in the scene for a deep probing of what causes offense and in which contexts words are offensive. It’s a response to the messy conversations on freedom of speech and should be listened to by all – the bonus is that you’ll laugh a lot at the takedown of your expectations.

Director Joseph Kahn brings enormous visual flair to his movie. Kahn understands the need to energise the aesthetic of a movie almost entirely revolved around the spoken word and he finds multiple creative ways to enliven the conversations, using visual jokes, special effects and dynamic camera movements. Even with no physical violence, Kahn zips up almost every other action movie of 2018 in a bodybag by creating something that’s far more visually exciting than most of them.

Bodied: Conclusion

Bodied was said to be the the least bloodiest film at London’s Frightfest 2018 (where I caught it) yet this uproarious battle rap flick was more brutal than most of the genre films on the programme. Words are weapons, as Adam says in a poetry slam, and Joseph Kahn and Alex Larsen understand the nuances in how they’re used, fully engaging with the particular use of language in hip-hop. It’s going to be a treat for existing rap battle fans (plenty of meta references and cameo appearances by King of the Dot figures) but I recommend it to anyone seeking out the highest quality of entertainment… as long as you aren’t easily offended.

Kahn’s thrilling vision, Larsen’s thought-provoking screenplay, Worthy’s sensational performance: that’s a three-round victory. Hilarious, formally impeccable and necessarily provocative, it may well be the greatest hip-hop movie ever made.

What were your expectations of Bodied before seeing it? How do you feel about after seeing it? Let us know in the comments below!

Bodied will be released in select US cinemas on November 2, 2018 and globally through Youtube Premium on November 28, 2018.