Movie Review: Straight Outta Compton

F. Gary Gray (Friday) gives us the origin of some of the pioneers of gangsta rap with Straight Outta Compton.
Straight Outta Compton is a bio-pic about the formation of, and eventual disbanding of, the rap group N.W.A.  It focuses mainly on the careers of the three more prominent members of the five man group, Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell, Contraband), Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), and Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins, Non-Stop).  All of these guys were living in Compton in the 80's where there were gangs, police brutality, and just poor living conditions in general.  They came together with each of their talents to form N.W.A. under Easy-E's label, Ruthless Records.  Music manager, Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti, The Amazing Spider-Man 2), recognizes their talent and gets them signed to Priority Records where they make their first album Straight Outta Compton.  Due to contract and money issues, Ice Cube eventually leaves the group and goes solo.  Cube and N.W.A. verbally attack each other on their next respective albums.  Dr. Dre eventually also broke off into a solo career and started producing other artist's albums with Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor, Life of Crime).


Regardless of whether you are into gangsta rap or not, this is a fascinating and well made film about some of the biggest names in that sub-genre.  I don't like a lot of the things they put into their lyrics, but I do still think they had talent and enjoyed their music none-the-less.  While I still don't condone a lot of the things they say, this film gave me a better understanding of where they were coming from.  The first half is the much stronger portion of the film.  It shows the life that these young men were living in Compton before forming their group.  Once they hit it big it also shows their fight to defend their freedom of speech.  They called their music "reality rap".  They were rapping about stuff they grew up with, such as gangs and police brutality (which is what most of the focus is on).  It really shines a light on the deplorable actions of some of the cops back then, which sadly is still relevant in some areas today.  What's great about this film is that it doesn't paint our protagonists as angels who never did anything bad at all.  For being produced by two of the original members of N.W.A. (Ice Cube and Dr. Dre), it's fairly honest about their lifestyle.  It showed the drug use, the guns, the acting out, and the occasional destruction of property.  I say fairly honest because, yeah, it did gloss over a few things that should have been mentioned.  Dr. Dre seemed to come off as the most squeaky clean member, so people are rightfully upset that there was not at least mention of the fact that he has an apparent history of abusing women.  For the most part though, I really enjoyed the honesty they did bring to the table. 


The second half is where the film slowed down a little for me.  After the group disbanded, the film was still focused on the three main players.  They were each on their own path, though, so things got spread a little thin.  It never lost my interest, so it was not necessarily bad.  It just lost some of it's focus.  On top of each of their careers, it had to show Dr. Dre's heavy influence in the future of rap by briefly bringing in some of the guys he discovered, such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac.  I give Gray a lot of credit as a director for being able to keep things interesting while covering so many things, because I don't think there is a way to tell this story without any of it.


Another thing that shined in this film was the acting.  Giamatti was, of course, good as the slimy agent.  That's his thing, right?  Hawkins was also quite good as Dre.  The real stars, though, were Jackson Jr. and Mitchell.  Both of these guys just became Ice Cube and Easy-E respectively.  You might say Jackson Jr. had it easier, being that he is actually the real Ice Cube's son.  Yeah, he looks just like his dad, so that helped.  However, there was more to it though.  Ice Cube had this attitude and demeanor back in the 80's and 90's that was distinctively his.  His son brought that to the table, even down to the menacing glare.  Mitchell did the same playing Easy-E.  For most of the film, I felt like I was watching old footage of a young Ice Cube and Easy-E.  And although he was in less of the film, I would be remiss to not mention Taylor's immersion into the role of Suge Knight.


Whether your a fan of N.W.A. or not, or even rap in general, I suggest you give this very well made music bio a look.  It's a great look into the origins of a group who had a huge impact on society, as well as the rap industry.  It also gives an interesting look into the state of affairs for people growing up in places like Compton during the late 80's/early 90's.  Even when it slows down a little, it never loses you.


Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10) [matinee]


Memorable Quote:
Ice Cube: I ain't got a car.