Grade: A-

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2015)

The first few scenes of F. Gary Gray's Straight Outta Compton threw me for a loop, at first promising a different movie than I realized it was forming. It starts off dark, with Eric "Eazy-E" Wright collecting on a drug deal gone bad before the police bust in with a battering ram. On a bus, Ice Cube is writing lyrics when gang members storm the bus and threaten the students. At first, I thought it was trying to show the background of the characters; but instead, it was cleverly introducing these characters while displaying the Compton landscape- a rotted, shady urban underbelly where gangs run the streets, hard-working adults lock themselves away from the oppressive world outside their walls, and all the while, the police continue to crack down on criminals and non-criminals alike, widening the divide between the people and authority. This is the world where these young men grew up, and it would become the essence of their art.
After getting a pretty strong dose of Compton, the movie brings together the four rappers; Eazy-E, a young guy who does what he can to make ends meet, and uses his money to help out one of his friends; Dr. Dre, a charismatic and brilliant young mind who devotes all of himself to music and the business of music, which proves fruitful when Eazy-E puts up money for a recording studio; Ice Cube, a gifted lyricist whose tough exterior doesn't override his good heart and sharp mind; and MC-Ren, who unfortunately, is far too underdeveloped to leave much of a comment on. He's a friend of the guys, and when they're all in the studio, magic happens.
Whatever casting director was brought on board was a genius; not only do the actors look very much like the younger versions of their real-life counterparts (in the leading and supporting roles), but these unknowns all bring a unique charisma to each character that's impossible to resist. They might be tough guys with some harsh words to say, but they're funny, they're real, and they're as loyal as friends can be.
That is, until Jerry Heller, played by the only recognizable cast member in the bunch- Paul Giamatti- signs the N.W.A. He brings success and publicity to the group, but there is more to what's on the surface. Though Giamatti does great in his role, I couldn't help but feel the role was a bit underwritten, as I found it nearly impossible to decipher if he was to be trusted or not in many of the scenes. What Jerry represents is the 'evil' music industry, how they might restrict their artists (ex: when Jerry freaks out because the N.W.A. receives a warning from the federal government), and how they can divide a group by tipping the balance of the individual members.
Straight Outta Compton touches on a lot of motifs- the music industry, police brutality, fame and all its decadence- but without much elaboration. Instead, it uses these things as a vehicle to demonstrate how certain tracks came to be. Straight Outta Compton doesn't offer much in the way of discussion or deep thinking about a lot of these topics, but instead focuses on the characters and their historical time together. It's not really a fault with the movie so much as a catch-22.
Still, it certainly is a riveting film that offers magnificent insight to the 'world's most dangerous group'- but perhaps it could have taken a magnifying glass to some of the ugly realities of the characters, not just the environment around them. It is completely neglected that Dr. Dre was brought up on abuse charges for throwing a woman through a door, and while it shows that he has a kid, he is seen partying like there is no tomorrow, without any comment on the correlation between the two. Eazy-E is a drug dealer in the beginning, and suddenly he flips the switch to musician? There are some unanswered questions- and some uncovered truths- about these young men that are never touched on for fear of turning the audience on the characters. It's a great biopic but as it is with most biopics, only gives us the glimpses of the things we want to see; it gives us some of the surface ugliness without digging deeper. These stones left unturned don't make the film a very complex one.
My only other criticism is that the film's end feels a bit abrupt. Perhaps there is no real closure cause there is nothing thematic overarching the movie, or maybe it's because it's not really the end of the story. Maybe it's both. But at two and a half hours, I was hoping for a bit more of an epilogue that left with me something to think about. Despite some of these setbacks, I can say I learned a lot and was entertained the whole way through. If you don't know anything about these four important rappers, or this genre in general, this is a must-see. And if you do know, then chalk it up to being just a well-done recap of the short but lucrative career of the N.WA.
Grade: A-