MOVIE REVIEW: Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Being a big biopic fan, and an even bigger hip hop fan, Straight Outta Compton ranked among my most anticipated films of the 2015. Despite my passion for rap both historic and contemporary though, I was not 100% familiar with NWA's story. I knew a few things, but this was also a chance for me to learn about the group, their backgrounds and relationships.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, though it most definitely had its fair share of highs and lows. The opening scene was a standout, in which we are introduced to Eazy-E in the midst of some kind of undercover dispute with a few heavily armed individuals. We get an intense chase scene as the police find the house and literally tear it to the ground as Eazy tries to escape. The film then goes about introducing the rest of NWA and we get an instant sense of the racial and political tension surrounding Compton at that time. After the group become fully formed and we meet the manager, Jerry Heller, it is not long before the film takes us to the making of the group's most famous album "Straight Outta Compton" and the subsequent tour that changed the face of hip hop forever.

The second half of the film deals more with the breakdown of the group and mounting pressure between the members and managers. I feel like this is where the film runs into problems. First of all, much of the dialogue that was entertaining in the first half becomes stale and slightly obsolete as the film develops. I feel like as the group matured and the relationships started to show signs of strain, we should have got some more complex scripting. Instead it is all played rather safe, and the intimate interactions between Eazy, Dre, Cube and Jerry Heller seem quite predictable and lacking in inspiration. However the film maintains some very compelling plot points, whilst omitting other key ones (to the disappointment of many hardcore NWA fans). The scene in which we get to see the group reacting to Cube's "No Vaseline" diss is hilarious and one of the standouts in the whole movie. It was equally cool seeing Dre leaving the group to pursue his own ventures with Suge Knight, although I wasn't convinced by the portrayal of Suge by R Marcus. Taylor.

The emotional scenes in the film were also executed reasonably well. Obviously a prominent thread was racial discrimination, which although I knew a lot about already was still shocking to see played out in such a brash manner. One of the scenes depicts a real moment in which the group were warned not to play "Fuck The Police" in concert by the FBI. But in a true act of rebellion they do it anyway and quickly feel the inevitable consequences when they are taken away in police vans. It underlined the genuine threat to free speech that was almost tangible then, but is still definitely present today. Dre hearing that his brother had been killed was probably the saddest moment in the film for me, and definitely had me shedding a few tears. And of course, the death of Eazy-E to AIDS at the backend of the film was also heartbreaking to watch. To see the genuine agony of someone hearing the news that they were going to die at the peak of their powers was profoundly distressing and upsetting.

My main issue with the film was the omission of several key events in NWA's long and busy history that I felt might have been left out intentionally in order to paint Dre and Cube (especially Dre) as better people than perhaps they were back in those days. I thought Eazy was portrayed most accurately, but was demonised slightly for how he handled the band's contracts with Heller. The omission of Eazy's beef with Dre was unforgivable considering it lasted years and would have made for a really interesting dynamic in the latter half of the film. I would have also liked to have seen MC Ren and DJ Yella given more screen time, but I'll let them off considering how much they had to fit into 147 minutes. Apart from that, the film had me gripped for most of the lengthy running time. The performances from the key members were all excellent and of course, the music and live performances of some of my favourite hip hop songs were all thrilling to hear and watch in a cinema setting. For the most part, the film succeeds admirably in giving an exciting overview of the beginning, middle and end of NWA, and all of the people on the periphery of the group back in the day.

All I can say is THANK GOD we didn't get another train-wreck like "Notorious". What we got was a very solid biopic with great acting, compelling action sequences, an insight into racism and hood life in America at that time and of course, some of the best music ever put to tape. What I most liked about it was its accessibility to both newcomers to NWA and long-standing fans of the group. I can even see non-hip hop fans getting something out of this film. A must see for sure!

Acting: 85
Narrative: 70
Visuals: 75
Music: 90

Overall: 80/100