Directed by : F. Gary Gray
Written by : Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff,
Starring : Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Paul Giamatti,
Release Date : August 13, 2015
As far as musical biopics about the rap group N.W.A. goes, "Straight Outta Compton" is highly entertaining. The movie is almost two and a half hours long, but it moved at a good pace, always had my attention, and I probably wouldn't have minded if it could have been even longer. This might just be Director F. Gary Gray's best work on a movie, especially considering the story he had to tell on screen.
As much as it is a dramatized story about real life events, the film plays off like a historical film as well, but in the end comes off almost like a folk-tale that has characters acting like the epic heroes we're suppose to root for. There's an instant charm to the story about kids who grew up in a rough neighborhood, making it big doing what they loved. It's a more complicated story than just that of course, and the movie does go over what some of those were; even if not every detail in reality made an appearance on the film.
There are three main themes that this movie focuses on. The group of young friends and their tough life that's tied to the city they lived in, the relationship between the N.W.A. and their manager Jerry Heller, and the constant oppression by the Police. There's a lot of content that's shown, but I thought the last third of the movie suffered a little for feeling rushed and seemingly just jumped around significant historical moments without proper story progression.
Where "Straight Outta Compton" succeeds the most as a movie, is that it's made enjoyable enough for a wide audience and not just for fans of the band. If anything else, it might just make people want to immediately listen to the music after they see this movie.
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
