Could've been a powerful film, but was too "Hollywood" and one-sided

Rating: 4/10 (15 April 2019)

I loved this movie when I was younger, but today I could careless for it. It covers no new ground, and tries to uphold the cast as heroes without a strong case. I still enjoy some of their music, but other than the infamous police song and some of Cube's solo work, their music did not uplift the black community or make the world more aware of sociopolitical issues. The movie alludes to that and tries to tell us this, but we see more of the cast trying to act cool than them fighting for a cause, making it unconvincing in my eyes (Although my younger self was fooled). Let's all be honest, no one listens to N.W.A to "be informed". Their anger, aggression, and bluntnesss sells the music, and the consciousness is an afterthought (this doesn't mean it's wrong to enjoy them though). This isn't a morality crusade, but simply acknowledging a problem doesn't make you heroic, you have to take initiative to fix it.
A lot of people say this movie is raw and gritty because of the swearing, violent imagery, and groupie sex scenes. However, that is more glamor than grit, and despite all the parental advisories about this film (Police at theaters making sure no one under 17 gets in, and FX plays about four different warnings before this film airs), it's very sugar coated and PG compared to the real story of N.W.A. Entire beefs were skipped, and details that made Cube and Dre look like jerks were skipped over too. I'd like to compare this to The New Edition Story. Although that was a PG-13 film, the cast put pretty much every thing on the table, even the details that made them look selfish or foolish, and showed that they did their fair share of dirt, even during their bubblegum pop days, making it feel more raw than this film. Here, we only see these sides of the characters if it makes them look more badass, making the whole experience feel contrived.
And we all know that Eazy-E did not cry during the release of The Chronic. His popularity waned a bit from N.W.A's heyday, but he was still releasing music and signing new groups and artists. In fact, he received a portion of The Chronic's income. I did not appreciate the fact that they made him look weak and cowardly in the second half of the film. They made it look like he was nothing without N.W.A, but he fared well as a solo artist and would've further expanded his brand if it wasn't for his unfortunate death.
N.W.A's story is vast and includes many characters and artists who followed their influence, so I could see why certain details and people were not included. But when the final product ends up as a sanitized story that boosts up two people and downplays everything else, it makes a very one-sided and dissatisfying film. And although the finale scene was meant to be a declaration of Dre's independence, it came off as very cheesy and overly "Hollywood". The way Suge and Dre talked in that scene sounded like something out of a Marvel movie, and was wholly unbelievable. There is some good acting, a few powerful scenes, and little doses of humor throughout the film, but these cannot make up for the story
Edit: The most helpful review on the site claims that the only reason someone could dislike this movie is because it dared to show "angry black men". Considering how watered down this film was, they weren't angry enough.