One of the best biopics of all time!!!

Rating: 10/10 (18 August 2015)

First just let me say that there are a lot of haters on here. While the movie in a few instances is not exact historically because of creative license it does an excellent job of putting 10yrs into under 3hrs. I question whether some of you have actually seen the movie by the ratings and vague summary you gave. Yes the movie has violence, guns and strong language but that is mostly from fist fights, news footage from the LA riots, personal conflicts and the use of casual swearing by adolescents and young adults. Heck, it's a movie about the life story of a rap group growing up in South Central LA during the height of gang activity and the crack epidemic. The criticism of the sex in the movie is over exaggerated as it is only actually seen in ONE scene throughout the entire film. Of course there will be naked women around during parties and women showing their breasts at concerts. I've seen another movie from last year in particular where the swearing was used ridiculously just to add affect to weak dialogue and it didn't get the same criticism. The only drugs you ever see is marijuana (weed) and that is it. In my opinion there is nothing over exaggerated in the movie so it is what you would expect of the environment surrounding an up and coming popular music group with the usual groupies and drugs. If they didn't put it in you would complain that the movie was fake and tried to glamorize these legends.
With that said I found the movie very entertaining. There wasn't a boring moment where you were thinking to yourself "just get to the next scene". There were highs and lows. There were plenty of funny moments, sad moments and moments that made you reflect even on your own life especially if you grew up with nothing and may have possibly turned your life around by using your talent to gain wealth.
The acting of these up and coming stars was superb in my opinion. The casting was almost flawless. Corey Hawkins killed it as Dr Dre. He was very believable and I'm sure it is due to his Julliard background. O'Shea Jackson Jr. does a great job of portraying his father Ice Cube especially since he already has his likeness, but it even took him some serious training just to get the part. Jason Mitchell does a great job as Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to which the movie pays tribute to and he dramatically handles the contracting of HIV and dying. The only major actor in the movie; Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller, was great but what can you say, it's Paul Giamatti. The entire dialogue and cinematography was great throughout and made you feel like you were watching history unfold.
The director F. Gary Gray does an excellent job of compiling the life stories of this historical group and transcends their legacy to the screen. The scenes shot directly in LA and Compton were captivating and gave you a since of what it was like in the mid to late 80s with the police brutality and gang violence. There are several scenes of nights on Crenshaw Blvd with low riders hitting switches and people out having a good time.
I didn't won't to completely give anything away about the movie but wanted to give a since of what the movie is supposed to convey to the viewer. Use your own judgement and go to a theater to watch the movie for its cinematic value. I'm looking forward to purchasing this on Bluray to add to my collection and I hope to get an extended version to see the scenes which were edited out.