Review of Straight Outta Compton (2015) by Atadpolish — 22 Sep 2015

When I went into the cinema to see Straight Outta Compton I was expecting a film which glamorised the gangsta rap lifestyle with lavish parties which featured excessive violence, sex and drug use. What I got was a well executed biopic which looks at the rise and fall of one of most influential rap groups in American history.

The film is more than an standard biopic, it deals with themes that are bigger than N.W.A. Police brutality/racism is a common theme throughout the film. One scene where the group are harassed by police for simply standing outside there recording studio highlights how tough it was to be a young African American at the time. Sadly it reminds the audience how nothing has really changed in the last 25 years for this portion of the American demographic. The other theme's the film delves into are greed, gang violence and betrayal.

The cast is headed by three very talented young actor's, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell play Ice Cube, Dr Dre & Eazy E with ease and style, Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller is excellently cast and proves why he s one of the best actor's of his generation.

The film isn't perfect as it struggles from pacing issue's throughout but overall director F. Gary Gray achieves a decent film which is made better by the performances of it's actors. This is a large improvement for F.Gary Gray as some of previous films such as The Italian Job remake and Be Cool will not be remembered as fondly as Straight Outta Compton.