Review of Straight Outta Compton (2015) by Filmphonic — 02 Sep 2015

It may be hard to believe but “hardcore” Rap wasn’t always all about all the Bling-Bling or the size of your girl’s rear-end. When NWA broke into the scene unapologetically spitting rhymes about the brutality of the streets they lived on, “Gangsta Rap” was effectively born, which then gave birth to a string of early 90s gritty “ghetto” dramas like ‘Boyz n the Hood’ and ‘Menace II Society,‘ with their unglamorized depictions of young black Americans growing up in the most deprived areas in the USA.

With ‘Straight Outta Compton’, director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Law Abiding Citizen) manages to effectively combine the harsh nature of these early 90s “Hood” dramas with the core elements of a dramatized contemporary-culture biopic, to build what is essentially a modern “American Dream” human drama, after all NWA members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre went from struggling poor teenagers in gang-dominated South Central L.A. to global music superstars and eventually multi-millionaire media-moguls.

The story in ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is more extraordinary than fiction despite being “dramatized”, but the performances are the stars of the show, particular praise must be given to Ice Cube’s own son O’Shea Jackson Jr. who very convincingly plays his old man and Jason Mitchell for effectively capturing the essence of the late Eazy-E.

Despite the novelty of being a Rap and urban-drama real story, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ walks a very similar and well-trodden path that most music Biopics seem to follow, complete with strategically placed moments of pathos and grief, perhaps the most disappointing element is the depiction of the group members as heroes of the piece taking little responsibility for their actions and those of the “villains” around them, not surprising since the movie is produced and effectively helmed by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre themselves.

For its shortcomings, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is a compelling watch and as good as any recent music biopic, albeit in a sub-genre that is often disappointing, the most striking theme of the film is that of police brutality and the systemic oppression of ethnic minorities in the USA… and although it should not be an excuse for callous and subversive behaviour, it does highlight an issue which remains as prevalent today as in the early days of NWA.

The Bottom Line….

While it’s confined by the predictable limitations of the music biopic genre, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is an effectively crafted “ghetto” drama based on a true-story more extraordinary than fiction which manages to retain its social relevance.