← Back to Reviews
in
#8 - Straight Outta Compton
F. Gary Gray, 2015
A biopic chronicling the history of notorious gangsta-rap outfit N.W.A. and the conflicts that arise between its members.
I don't exactly have the greatest affinity for N.W.A., the short-lived but massively popular and influential rap group whose hard-hitting lyrics were some of the first to draw attention to what life was really like for black youths living on the mean streets of Los Angeles. As important as they were, they still had problems that stopped me from appreciating them all that much, especially when it came to the members' misogynistic tendencies (which isn't helped by this film glossing said tendencies over, albeit not completely). That being said, I still had an interest in seeing Straight Outta Compton, the biopic that covered the group's meteoric rise and protracted fall. It's about as conventional a biopic as you could possibly ask for under these circumstances; after introducing all five members of the group, it follows the different members as they confront everything from police brutality to gang violence as they work to produce new material. However, due to the opportunistic relationship that develops between Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) and the group's manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti), things start to fall apart and it's not long before Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson, Jr.) and Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) start to question their role within the group and seek to strike out on their own.
F. Gary Gray is a pretty standard journeyman director, though he does have an in with the material thanks to his directorial debut being the Cube-scripted stoner comedy Friday (which does get a few references throughout Straight Outta Compton) and thus delivers a relatively passionate take on the material. The film does threaten to grow stale over the course of two-and-a-half hours due to its biopic trappings but never does thanks to the strength of a story that knows how to cover the highs and lows of one tumultuous decade. The mostly-unknown performers assigned to portray N.W.A. themselves do very well with their roles. I'd single out Jackson's turn as Cube but it seems too easy considering that, you know, he's Cube's actual son and so has a bit of an unfair advantage over the others. Hawkins and Mitchell do well enough, with the former seeming like a weak link due to Dre's generally chill demeanour and the latter's portrayal of the temperamental E varies in terms of quality. Giamatti may seem like he's recycling the same type of character that he played in 2014's Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy, but he's just a good enough actor to make it work. Straight Outta Compton may feature a lot of the usual biopic tropes (especially those of the musical variety, including naysayers pre-emptively criticising songs that would ultimately prove popular and revolutionary) and its length threatens to make it a chore to sit through, but it's still fairly provocative and naturally has quite the powerful soundtrack to accompany proceedings.
F. Gary Gray, 2015
A biopic chronicling the history of notorious gangsta-rap outfit N.W.A. and the conflicts that arise between its members.
I don't exactly have the greatest affinity for N.W.A., the short-lived but massively popular and influential rap group whose hard-hitting lyrics were some of the first to draw attention to what life was really like for black youths living on the mean streets of Los Angeles. As important as they were, they still had problems that stopped me from appreciating them all that much, especially when it came to the members' misogynistic tendencies (which isn't helped by this film glossing said tendencies over, albeit not completely). That being said, I still had an interest in seeing Straight Outta Compton, the biopic that covered the group's meteoric rise and protracted fall. It's about as conventional a biopic as you could possibly ask for under these circumstances; after introducing all five members of the group, it follows the different members as they confront everything from police brutality to gang violence as they work to produce new material. However, due to the opportunistic relationship that develops between Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) and the group's manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti), things start to fall apart and it's not long before Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson, Jr.) and Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) start to question their role within the group and seek to strike out on their own.
F. Gary Gray is a pretty standard journeyman director, though he does have an in with the material thanks to his directorial debut being the Cube-scripted stoner comedy Friday (which does get a few references throughout Straight Outta Compton) and thus delivers a relatively passionate take on the material. The film does threaten to grow stale over the course of two-and-a-half hours due to its biopic trappings but never does thanks to the strength of a story that knows how to cover the highs and lows of one tumultuous decade. The mostly-unknown performers assigned to portray N.W.A. themselves do very well with their roles. I'd single out Jackson's turn as Cube but it seems too easy considering that, you know, he's Cube's actual son and so has a bit of an unfair advantage over the others. Hawkins and Mitchell do well enough, with the former seeming like a weak link due to Dre's generally chill demeanour and the latter's portrayal of the temperamental E varies in terms of quality. Giamatti may seem like he's recycling the same type of character that he played in 2014's Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy, but he's just a good enough actor to make it work. Straight Outta Compton may feature a lot of the usual biopic tropes (especially those of the musical variety, including naysayers pre-emptively criticising songs that would ultimately prove popular and revolutionary) and its length threatens to make it a chore to sit through, but it's still fairly provocative and naturally has quite the powerful soundtrack to accompany proceedings.