Directed by F. Gary Gray, Straight Outta Compton is a biopic telling the story of the formation of gangsta rap, hip-hop group NWA. Focusing mainly on members Dr Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E, this biographical picture illustrates the challenges these people faced (including consistent police brutality which became their music's main motivation and influence), the enormous impact they had on not just the music scene but for popular culture in general as well as the various conflicts which divided them after they reached success, which ultimately led them to divide and separate. Straight Outta Compton achieves its goals as a biopic, delivering a consistently entertaining and engaging film which I thoroughly enjoyed.
At its core, Straight Outta Compton is really the story of how 3 guys from the exact same background went on to become successful and how they chose to walk down different paths. It's initially a story about raw passion for an art form (which in this case is gangsta rap) before developing into an examination of how money can dilute that passion. As a drama, Straight Outta Compton works, with one or two scenes being particularly powerful. This drama would never have been achieved if it weren't for the young actors cast in the 3 lead roles.
This is a movie where it is bound together by acting performances which, if they did not work, would have ruined the entire film. Thankfully, the young actors chosen to portray Dr Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E are all very talented young people who deliver inch perfect performances. The chances are if you're a fan of a rap artist, he was probably influenced or supported by Dr Dre. The movie illustrates perfectly at just how huge the influence of Dr Dre has been for the hip-hop industry. In this movie, Dre is the one who is mostly driven by the music and the music alone.
Both Ice Cube and Eazy-E walk down different paths to Dre once the group begins to split up, despite both coming from the same place and sharing Dre's initial standpoint when the group was emerging as a major success. Eazy-E's plotline revolves mainly around the financial side of things, which ultimately becomes the thing that divides the group. His storyline heavily involves their manager played by Paul Giamatti, who is seriously impressive in this film delivering a natural, nuanced performance. But for me, the actor who stood out the most was O'Shea Jackson Jr, the real life son of Ice Cube. He takes to the challenge of playing his Dad in a motion picture like a duck to water, delivering a performance that is refined right down to the tiniest mannerisms of the real life man.
The films is clearly divided into 2 halves; the first of which is the group's formation and rise to fame and the second being the varying paths they chose to walk after the group's dissolution. The film initially starts out strong by setting up all the characters, gets very strong as it focuses mainly on the raw passion and energy of the group before dwindling in the second half. While it finished strong, the pacing suffered for me in the second half as the financial aspect of everything came to the forefront. Also, I think Straight Outta Compton could've been more enjoyable for me personally had it been more honest about some of the real life events. It makes sense that both Dr Dre and Ice Cube as producers would want to leave things out for the sake of not tarnishing their reputation, a little more honesty would have been greatly appreciated by myself.
And I can't not talk about the movie's soundtrack, which is typically fantastic. During the concert and recording studio scenes does Straight Outta Compton feel its strongest and most alive. I'm not a massive fan of west coast rap, but this film made it so enjoyable to listen to for me. And like most people, I was sat there bobbing my head and tapping my feet as these scenes played out.
Overall, Straight Outta Compton is a good film as it works as a biographical picture. The performances are all fantastic across the board and F. Gary Gray's direction in the first half of the film keeps it consistently energetic and entertaining. While the pacing suffers as the second half of the film progresses and some real life events are blatantly missed out, it's still a film worth seeing in theatres for the experience. Fans of classic hip hop will enjoy the music, movie fans will enjoy the drama-geared direction and the impressive calibre of acting. I enjoyed the latter, and appreciate the former more now because of it:
Rating - B
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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