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Issue date: 11/21/02 Section: Lifestyles

`MILE´ MARKER: Rap rocked the box office as Eminem tore to the top of the charts with "8 Mile." That´s the second-biggest opening ever for an R-rated flick, behind "Hannibal´s" $58 million last year. The hip-hop wordsmith rules the pop-culture kingdom: His soundtrack album and single, "Lose Yourself," sit atop the music charts, too. (By Rick Holter/The Dallas Morning News/KRT)

The Eminem movie "8 Mile" is not the first box-office hit driven by the success of a young pop star. But it may be the first also driven by rave reviews from the middle-aged white folks who hold most of the country's elite film critic jobs.

To a large degree, the reviews for "8 Mile" are a credit to the direction of Curtis Hanson, the Oscar-nominated director of "L.A. Confidential," and to Eminem for having the sense to start his acting career working for a director with intelligence and a style of his own.

But most critics were impressed with Eminem himself. The camera doesn't see through him the way it has with Madonna, Mariah Carey and other pop stars attempting to cross over. There's something behind those sleepy eyes that is both tender and full of rage, a potent combo for an actor on any level.

Hanson knew how to bring out those qualities while keeping Eminem's inexperience hidden, then turned him loose for the athletic rapping sessions that are his natural habitat. Even for someone who has never listened to a rap song all the way through (my hand is raised), he kicks butt in those scenes.

Comparisons between the 30-year-old rapper and Elvis are inevitable. Both vaulted to the screen as cultural outlaws who dominated the charts by adopting and personalizing black music. Just as Elvis was eventually accepted by blacks as a promoter of their music, so, too, has Eminem.

The question now that Eminem (real name: Marshall Mathers III ) has his autobiographical, self-iconizing role out of the way is whether he can keep a movie career working. The first thing Col. Parker did when he sent Elvis to Hollywood was soften his outlaw image. In his first movie, the 1956 Western "Love Me Tender," Elvis sang the title ballad to keep his teenage fans from storming the palace, but he was no threat to their parents.

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