Film Review: Straight Outta Compton

California Dreamin'

Let's get this out of the way first before any problems or missteps arise within this review of F. Gary Gray's new film Straight Outta Compton. when it comes to the rise of prominent hip hop in the early 1990's, N.W.A, and the story of their own personal rise and fall, I am not exactly the most well-informed person regarding such, with my only reference for music of that particular genre being the wonderful GTA: San Andreas (Thank god for Radio Los Santos). Pitiful I know, but whilst I was only aware briefly of the impact of the N.W.A in the 1990's, Straight Outta Compton proved to be an eye-opening biographical epic focusing on the early outset of the group and their titular debut album, focusing most prominently on our "heroes", Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E. Although the key concept of the movie may indeed not be for everyone, with me being classed as an outsider myself, Straight Outta Compton proved to be one of the most incredible journeys in film I have witnessed this year, following in the footsteps of The Social Network in telling a story not exactly with widespread appeal, but resulting in something rather brilliant. 

What makes Straight Outta Compton work so well is the effortless fashion in which our young actors portray their characters on-screen, with Jason Mitchell's Eazy-E in particular being one of the many standout performers, whilst Paul Giamatti as the slimey corporate megalomaniac, Jerry Heller, doing exceptionally well in trying to be as shadowy and ambiguous as he possibly can. With all the on-screen cameos featuring actors portraying younger versions of famous faces such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur however, characters were so-often lost and forgotten about within the space of minutes, resulting in minor plot threads seemingly going awry, suggesting that sometimes the scope of Straight Outta Compton was in fact too big to handle, resulting in a film that wants to say more, but ultimately can't due to restrictions on its' time length, something of which was already too long to say the least at a mortifying two and a half hours. 

Of course the music is great, with track after track being blasted out through the cinema speakers, and even though my minor hip hop knowledge was brought to the table, it didn't stop me from enjoying every single beat, rap and lyric that boom-boxed it's way onto me at a volume turned way past eleven, whilst the concert scenes were managed triumphantly, unlike the misogynistic portrayal of women that unfortunately crept up on occasion throughout the course of the film's runtime. The acting is wonderful, the story, inspiring, and although Straight Outta Compton has some rather dashing flaws, I indeed enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and probably more than I should, with N.W.A locking firmly in my playlist for the next couple of weeks or so. 

Overall Score: 8/10