Review of Straight Outta Compton (2015) by Zombiekiller6554 1 — 10 Jan 2016

Provoking, sharp and totally engrossing, Straight Outta Compton is a brilliant biopic which blends terrific performances, exciting energy, brutal honesty, smooth story-telling and legendary music together in order to make it a contemporary biopic classic. The story of the N.W.A. and how they brought the hip-hop to world fame is not only intriguing for all viewers, but also works as a proof, a testament for the genius of the people involved in it.

There is no doubt that Straight Outta Compton is such a magnificent movie due to two main factors: straightforward and brutally honest story and the brilliant performances of its cast. To start with the story, it sharp, brutal and often complicated simply because the time-span of the movie is several years and it is not an easy task to memorize all small details. Nevertheless, director F. Gary Gray succeeds to keep it easy-to-chew, realistic and still interesting even for viewers who are not interested in this particular type of music. The social commentary which takes an important part of the story is provoking and it adds up the elements needed to better understand to rise of N.W.A. Last, but not least when it comes to the story, Straight Outta Compton is not about the whole life of its members, but only about the first and wildest years, before Dre, Ice Cube and the rest become the corporate dinosaurs they are nowadays. This keeps the movie entertaining and quite raw to the pleasure of everyone seeing it.

The second pillar of Gary Gray's successful delivery is the performances of its cast. Frankly speaking even in my most optimistic initial expectations I was not thinking that O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell and company would manage to deliver such impeccable depictions of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Easy E. Special attention should be paid to O'Shea Jackson Jr's performance as Ice Cube. At certain moments you might be having the feeling that you are actually watching Ice Cube playing himself and his son.

In conclusion, Straight Outta Compton is by no means one of the best surprises of 2015. If it was not for the late-summer release date, I would have expected some serious Awards-buzz around it (still a possibility to grab a nomination or two, but a very tiny one), simply because it deserves it. A must see biopic! Even if you are not a fan of hip-hop music (like me).