A beautifully crafted movie, with clear storytelling, solid acting and an unmatchable soundtrack.

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 2016)

There are a ridiculous amount of 1/10 reviews for this movie. To rate a movie 1 star it must be completely horrific, with almost all aspects of the movie being poor, no redeeming positive features and an insult to the viewers. How this movie has received ratings that low, is mind- boggling. It is not a bad movie, it may not be to everyone's taste, people may have expected more, they may be disappointed with many aspects, but it simply isn't a 1/10 rated movie. I cannot comprehend how so many reviewers gave it this score.
I'm a hip hop fan, the 90's – Early 2000's are the golden years for me. N.W.A were just before my time and I have never really had a solid interest in them – I knew of the members and was aware of their troubles with society and the American Government, but not to any real extent. Dr Dre and Ice Cube had huge hands on involvement in the production of Straight Outta Compton and their fingerprints show quite clearly. Much of the focus and heroism is focused around their two characters, which was to be expected in my opinion. Controversial story lines regarding Dr Dre were kept out which isn't surprising. It could have been seen as brave for it to have been included but you can hardly have any real shock that these scenarios weren't added into to the movie. Straight Outta Compton has a real epic movie feel about it, it's a huge production. It's vibrant and beautifully shot, the use of the music scenes is done to perfection, whether it's the studio sessions or the portrayal of the concerts. No expense is spared and this aspect of the movie cannot be faulted in the slightest.
Casting was solid, with a good balance of 'lookalikes' and acting quality. Ice Cubes son, who played his father in this movie did a very good job; especially when you consider it was his acting debut. It was a risk to use him in a film of this size but it definitely paid off which was nice to see. All other lead actors did a solid job, although sometimes the emotional scenes felt uncomfortable and unconvincing which was disappointing.
As you would expect the soundtrack was incredible! It's a shame that I didn't view this movie in the cinema to get the full experience. The concert scenes are especially great with many of their best known tracks being redone. Some other tracks from that era get cameos, such as Tupac plus Dre & Snoop tracks – offering some more nostalgic affection.
The portrayal of Eazy-E has been met with a lot of criticism from fans; people believe they exposed him as being too soft and the only band member who was ever in the wrong. As I previously said, my prior knowledge of N.W.A was minimal so I couldn't make any comparisons off of my own opinion of him as I didn't really have one! Eazy-E obviously wasn't around to tell his side of the story and we are forced to hear it from Dre and Ice Cube, whether that is extremely biased or fair, I have no idea.
It's a long film with a run time of over 2 and a half hours but the pacing is spot on and I didn't find it dragging whatsoever. It starts off at a blistering pace; it then slows down to introduce the band members one by one. There are parts which I felt were rushed and didn't get the attention/screen time they deserved but since watching this movie I have read that it had an initial run time of 3 and a half hours. It was required to be cut down significantly, over an hour of footage was removed which could explain why some scenes felt rushed and cut short. It has a real hood feel to it, set over the late 80's – early 90's, sets and styles are perfect to this time and you feel transported to this era effortlessly.
Also, people overly complaining about the final scenes when the credits role are embarrassing themselves. Criticising Dre for advertising his Beats headphones and describing the whole movie as 'an advertising campaign'? The credit scene was expertly done in my opinion, it shows a time reel of old clips and photos, followed by up to date clips showing us what the band members do in the current day. This includes Ice Cubes acting, Dr Dre's production and business ventures and it is ended with a fitting tribute to Eazy E. People simply love to complain about absolutely everything, picking holes in whatever they can.
Straight Outta Compton is a powerful movie, a biopic of 5 young black males rising up in an era of racism, police brutality and society's general unacceptance of aggressive, gangster hip-hop music. It's of course glorified, and negative aspects are left out of the movie in order to create a more rags to riches, underdog story, making the viewer see these men more positively. But it is a very, very well made movie which is getting far too much stick from 100's of reviewers on the internet. The marketing campaign was huge and it was lapped up in the masses by a worldwide fan base. For example, my girlfriend watched this movie with me, she has next to no interest in 'old school hip-hop', yet she thoroughly enjoyed Straight Outta Compton appreciating the film for its fantastic features.
9/10