Some People Don't Realize How Hard It Is To Make An Entertaining 2.5Hr Movie

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2015)

Overall, this movie deserves all of the hype. There are some holes that you can poke at. They didn't get too deep into the story of each member. The storyline is heavily one sided. The acting was not academy award winning. Snoop Dogg's character looked nothing like him and was about 2 feet too short.
All that being said, the movie leaves you wanting more after two and a half hours. To me that is an accomplish. Most movies that go beyond the 2 hour mark, you find yourself wondering when are they going to put the bow around it and wrap it up. SOOC leaves you wanting more. Almost as if you feel there could be a part 2.
So rather than talk about what I thought was rather exceptional about the film, I feel it's best to address some of the negativity that it's gotten and in doing such, it will highlight the positives.
First up, not going deep into the story of each member. NWA was formed by 5 members. MC Ren, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy-E. The latter three to be quite honest are the only people that the vast majority of people have heard of. I guarantee you that most of the people who went to watch the film couldn't tell you the names of the former 2.
Not only were Dre, Cube and Easy for the most part the only popular members, they were all pretty darn successful away from the group. It would have been too hard if not impossible to go into much more detail about each member prior to and after NWA without making it a 4 hour movie.
Number 2. The storyline being one sided. No disrespect to Ren and Yella, but again, no one really cares. The storyline was primarily around Dre and Cube. For the most part, everything in the movie was spot on with how things played out in real life.
Easy-E was not long time childhood friends with Dre and Cube. He was the neighborhood dopeman who happened to have money in his pocket to fund NWA. You can look at Easy as being the bad guy who stabbed his friends in the back by screwing them over on their contracts, but at the end of the day, he was just being who he was - a businessman. The dynamic between him and the manager, Jerry plays out very well. It's interesting seeing two businessmen from completely different situations come together and form a bond.
Lastly, people have complained about the acting being bad. First off, I don't feel it was that bad. All these guys with the exception of Paul Giamatti are new,unknown actors. They got the role largely in part because they happened to fit the likeness of the real members. Cube's son did an outstanding job but you also have to considering, he is playing his dad.
The one thing I did find funny is how bad snoop Dogg was casted. The guy playing him sounds nothing like Snoop and is about 5'7 and Snoop is about 6'6. If you play close attention, you'll notice that all of Snoops lines in the songs they play in the movie are edited out. It seems obvious that they didn't get permission to use his voice (with to me is an interesting story on it's own). The only time you hear a Snoop Dogg line is when it's being sung horribly by the actor portraying him.
Overall, this is a must see for anyone who likes rap music. If gangsta rap offends you, do not watch it. If you don't know anything about NWA, go look up what the letters standfor before pressing play. Even if you're not familiar with rap, it's a good watch because it's a good insight into life in the hood and the type of harassment by police that shape the mentality of how these people feel towards them. 8/10.