Straight Outta Compton
N.W.A.’s classic Hip-Hop album “Straight Outta Compton” came out when I was a teenager, so of course I listened to it all day every day (yes, on cassette). The lyrics, the beats, the stories were all so new and fresh at the time, everyone I knew was blasting that album. Being a fan of the group, naturally I kept up with them and knew some of the turmoil that they went through, but it’s fantastic to see all those elements brought together into one streamlined story.
This movie plays out like every music biopic that’s ever been released, but this one is incredibly entertaining because it’s a real modern story. The ripple effect caused by these young men creating their art is astounding. The movie plays through every “rising band” cliche that’s expected. I think because most people know who these people are now, and because their story happened “pre internet”, it makes the movie much more compelling. Make no mistake, this isn’t a gangster shoot ’em up with a hard, thumping soundtrack (as it easily could’ve been), this is an emotional drama, albeit with some action and comedy…with a hard, thumping soundtrack.
The casting here is unbelievable! O’Shea Jackson Jr.(Ice Cube’s son) plays young Ice Cube and he is absolutely fantastic. The resemblance is sometimes scary. The exact same thing can be said of Corey Hawkins as young Dr. Dre and Jason Mitchell as young Easy E. Some of the scenes almost feel like a documentary.
F. Gary Gray’s direction is so on point here, I almost can’t imagine any one else helming this ship. He understands Compton AND understands filmmaking so there is real “it actually went down this way” vibe to the entire movie. It also looks incredibly gorgeous (shout out to cinematographer Matthew Libatique)
This was a fantastic movie that hits pretty much everything out of the park. Although I will say that it went on just a tad too long (2 hours 30 minutes) and I wasn’t really happy with that last line of the movie, but other than that, I can’t recommend this movie enough. It’s a cinematic triumph.
Markellus’s Verdict 4.5/5
NWA biopic we’ve been waiting for. With a seemingly long run time of 150 minutes the film never stops for a second. It starts strong and finishes stronger. It delivers what feels like a very honest look at the lives and events surrounding one of the most influential rap groups of all time.
Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright (Jason Mitchell) is a street level drug dealer in the rough neighborhood of Compton, California. After a close call with some serious law enforcement in a deal that already wasn’t going his way he is open to the idea of slinging records instead of drugs. The idea is brought to him by Andre ‘Dr. Dre’ Young (Corey Hawkins) who is tired of playing songs at a local club. With some major lyrical help from O’Shea ‘Ice Cube’ Jackson (O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ice Cubes real life son if you didn’t figure that out); Dre, Eazy and Antoine ‘DJ Yella’ Carraby inadvertently record their first single.
Eazy-E is the business man of the group. With his ingenuity and a voice of the common people dubbed ‘reality rap’ the group NWA is quickly formed under Eazy-E’s record label, Ruthless Records. Eazy teams up with Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) and the group blows up faster and larger than any of them could have expected. A lifetime of street living, gang banging, and trying hard to survive is escalated when money, power, and fame is introduced to their lives. Without being able to keep up with the whirlwind their lives become the members of NWA are tested in every way possible.
The casting of Straight Outta Compton couldn’t have been better. O’Shea Jackson Jr. obviously had the right look for Ice Cube but family resemblance wouldn’t have been enough for the powerful role. Jackson rose to the occasion and embodied his father in such a convincing way audiences could forget they weren’t watching the real thing. Corey Hawkins displayed the depth of Dr. Dre. A smart business man, artist, and amazing producer there wasn’t a moment on screen when Hawkins wasn’t projecting exactly what his character was feeling. You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he sold the audience on pondering every move, every beat, and the reactions to his ever changing reality. Jason Mitchell may have had the biggest burden to carry. Eazy-E was absolutely instrumental in making NWA a group so famous it would change the face of hip-hop, and continue to do so long after the group was finished making new music. Mitchell’s role in the film is very much the same. Especially with the lack of physicality his character had his presence had to be created with attitude, gestures, and emotion. Hodge and Brown played characters you hear less about but their characters in the film never felt like set pieces or plot devices. While less time was spent with them they still felt like part of the team, part of the group, and part of their created brotherhood. Paul Giamatti is the outsider in the cast. Playing a manager of some fame he isn’t from Compton, he doesn’t live a hard life, and he really has nothing to prove. What he does is see something in the boys and Giamatti’s long career of incredible performances has a chance to, once again, embody a character like he’s never played before and crush the role.
Music is as big a part of this biopic as the characters. With how influential and popular the music of NWA still is, how could it not be? The soundtrack isn’t just filled with NWA’s greatest hits but audiences get a good taste as to what they were into, what was popular with their peers at the time, and what influenced them. The creation of songs anyone seeing this film is already familiar with was handled perfectly too. The characters never walked into a sound booth and had a solid #1 hit without some effort. Dre and Yella worked the beats, Eazy had to be coached on how to stay on beat, Ice Cube and Ren wrote and rewrote feverishly. The songs are slowly formed on screen so when the pre recorded track hits the audience can appreciate the journey it took to get to the polished result. This was also another situation for the cast to shine. They didn’t sound like exact replicas of the original’s but got close enough that with some post work you buy the product they are creating.
The time spent with the ever famous song ’Fuck The Police’ is the closest the film comes to being heavy handed about what you could pull out of it as a message. The song is created relatively quickly after yet another bout of police harassment the character’s seemed to face on a daily basis. The riots around the song are real, well documented, news. The shockwaves that hit because of it seem eerily important in our current racially charged country.
Straight Outta Compton is a phenomenal biopic. It hits all the big parts in the lives of several people who went from street kids to musical artists that impacted the world as a whole. It is well balanced, well told, shot beautifully, and the visual and sound editing are top notch. A film that easily could have fallen flat or been a ploy to sell more records turned out to be one of the best surprises of the summer. Do yourself a favor, even if you aren’t a fan of Rap or NWA, and see Straight Outta Compton.
Adam’s Verdict 5/5
Source Sitdown-Shutup.net
