Well I finally watched a movie, and it ended up being a 5 star deal which continues my streak of making my Review thread the worst EVER. Hey, if everything Ive seen so far is a legit 5 stars, theres no need for a review.
2 1/2 hour long movie, and watches as fast as any film. F Gary Gray was perfect in his duties as Director of this film, and the young actors brought in to portray these Rap legends were spot-on with their performances. Of course it focused mostly on the characters of Dre , Easy E, and Cube in that order. Paul Giamatti did his usual incredible work as their manager Jerry Heller. What tipped me off to how good or bad these young actors were doing was when Giamatti was on the screen with them, his craft didnt expose them.
If you liked
Boyz in the Hood, or
Menace 2 Society then
see this movie. It gives you a quick dose of thug life in the beginning showing how Easy E started out as a dealer, probably MC Ren too but I dont know. I know there have been talks that Dre was a slinger (drug dealer) growing up, though they didnt touch on that. It portrayed Dre as a beginning genius DJ whose a young dad living at his Moms, Cube a middle class kid with both parents to raise him in the middle of the Compton chaos, and Jerry (Giamatti) as a broke down manager operating out the back of a laundry.
Ice Cube was played by O'Shea Jackson Jr, his real life son. He definitely has his dads mouth for that famous Cube sneer, and other mannerisms down like the back of his hand. Dr Dre was played by Corey Hawkins (The Walking Dead as Heath), and did a solid job. Easy E was portrayed by Jason Mitchell, received strong critical praise, and will be in the upcoming Kong: Skull Island.
The surviving member of N.W.A. closely supervised the biopic, Cube & Dre produced the film, and Ive a feeling is why the film is better than others of its like.
I honestly cant remember seeing a better film on the rise of a legendary music group. For instance -
After a first, weak audition, Jackson (Ice Cubes son) spent nearly two years working with an acting coach, before going through multiple tryouts and finally getting the role. Then, in the weeks before the film, he had to drop 20 pounds in order to more closely resemble his dad.
Ice Cube visited the set via Skype while filming another movie, his 2014 comedy Ride Along.
"We were sitting on the set shooting a scene," said Hawkins, "and Dre is there and everything, and I hear Cube's voice. I turn around — he's on a computer screen Skyping into the set. He's like, 'Turn me around.' He was making sure that every single detail was good. Anything that they felt they were trying to, for lack of a better word, 'movie-ize,' they would nip it down."
The rapping in the movie is a mix of the original recordings and the actors' reenactments. "We just went with whatever feels the best," says Gray. "There are moments where hearing the original members felt better than actors replicating it. And I think we did a pretty good job at just building an experience holistically as opposed to, 'Here are the rules of film when it comes to biopics, and this person should sing this and this person should do that.' We threw the rules out the door, you know? And it lends itself to the group."
Gray's first cut of the movie was an hour longer than the version in the theaters, and he expects to release a director's cut for home video at some point. That would make it 3 1/2 hours long!
You know what? Id see it.