Straight Outta Compton - Review

N.W.A.'s Story is Told with Great Characters

I went into Straight Outta Compton with high expectations considering the great word of mouth and the almost epic source material; I left the theatre satisfied with what I got but a little underwhelmed with the final product. As its been advertised Straight Outta Compton is a biopic depicting the rise and fall of N.W.A. the now historic rap group whose controversial lyrics gave voice to a generation and ushered in the 90s wave of rap music. The film is produced by some of N.W.A.'s original members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube who have went to great lengths to find talent who reflected the look and attitude of their younger selves. The result is one of the strongest ensembles in a film this year, even O'shea Jackson Jr. (who portrays his own farther, Ice Cube) turns in a strong performance.

What Straight Outta Compton gets right it gets very right, the acting the music its all fantastic, however there is a slight edge about the whole film. Everyone is the hero of their own story and thats no exception with N.W.A. Everybody around the three main stars (Being Ezay-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube) is portrayed as a villain in some light and N.W.A., or the rappers that make it up, are always the victims, always getting the short end of a stick somebody else is holding. The only exception to this may be Ice Cube where he has a scene in which he goes full postal but even that scene is coupled with his justification for doing so. Im no expert on the story of N.W.A. (hell I didn't know who they were up until a year ago) but you can really taste the sugar spread over many of these scenes and characters up to the point where it feels almost like the character development is sabotaged. Fortunately it never goes as far as trying to compensate for the actions of N.W.A. and always stick to its story in the end.

Straight Outta Compton is a strong film lead by charismatic actors. If you get really invested it will have you nodding your head one minute and chocking up the next. Its a film about N.W.A. by N.W.A. but that doesn't hold it back from being an engaging biopic with exaggerated highs and lows. If you have any interest in these characters at all, or you just want to see the string of events tied to this infamous group, then there isn't much better you can do just 10$ and a trip to the movies. 3/5