Fabulous film-making - a must see

Rating: 9/10 (20 August 2015)

There is a moment in Straight Outta Compton when Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) glances up at a billboard boasting the recent recording success of Dr. Dre . The look in his eyes captures all the wistful regret, enveloping envy, thwarted ambitions, and lost dreams of any former "teammate" who either from personal flaws or uncontrollable conditions (or both) killed the golden goose. If you sense Shakespearian level tragedy in this well-crafted biopic, you are not ill tuned. Eazy-E stands at the center of this film as the rags-to-riches-to-near-redemption-to-ruin boy from the 'hood whose fault lay both in himself and in his stars. If the overwhelming film message is of hope – of how impoverished, marginalized young men used as yet unappreciated poetic talents to combat institutionalized racism and immediate poverty to mark out a musical and cultural frontier, there still remains that reminder of the fate of E - that perhaps only one in a hundred thousand talented rappers "make it". That those who fabulously did, Dr Dre and Ice Cube in particular, wanted their story told with their late friend as the film's beating heart, serves Eazy's memory well.
Biopics have no inherent suspense. We know what is coming because we know the characters and their trajectories. So the mark of the successful biopic has to be the ability to share the known in a way that engulfs the audience in both recognition and delight. In any biopic allowances for time and tightness will be made, liberties taken with fact, embellishments adorned on less than sterling characters – and we see all of these in this film. Dre is portrayed perhaps too self-sacrificing and courageous, Cube too soon financially attuned and consistently aware, and Ren's and Yella's essential contributions neglected, but the overwhelming response to this film for most viewers is an exuberant high–five, an appreciation so intense for the story and the artists who made it that you want to "hold your middle finger high in the sky" at Joe Louis Stadium, even as you already know at exactly what moment the police are going to storm the stage, and assault and arrest those artists. Even if you don't care a whit for rap, you should be able to relate to this well told, brilliantly acted version of the American Dream, because that is exactly what it is – an innercity realization of the American Dream.
The director, F. Gary Gray, draws wonderful performances from the entire cast. R. Marcos Taylor's Suge Knight oozes brutal menace, Keith Stanfield's Snoop exudes early Dawg charm, Marcc Rose's Tupac blasts a shock of grieved remorse. Paul Giamatti, masterful as always, brings a combination of avarice and tender concern to his portrayal of the all too typical record producer, out to cover "his end" first and foremost, utilizing every shady accounting trick because, hey kids, "that's the way it has always been done". Giamatti's character's uncomfortable complexity reminds us this combination of pure greed and sporadic avuncular "regard" most likely had to be the profile of the slave owners' self-deceiving rationale as he tried to convince himself his property was better off under his control than free. O'Shea Jackson Jr. will be compared to his dad so much we may lose track of the son's unique talent and spitfire energy, ability to use justifiable rage articulated in flaming verse. Corey Hawkins' Dr. Dre allows the underlying genius of his character to slowly draw itself out. But Straight Outta Compton is really Mr. Mitchell's show. It is in this young actor's lightening smile, expressive eyes, hunched swagger and plaintive striving that we see captured not just the saga of the enormously talented rapper, but the plight of so many who just never made it "outta Compton".