There’s no denying the increased racial tension that has
come about these past few years. Incidents like the shooting of Michael Brown
in Ferguson and the deaths of other victims like Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and
Sandra Bland, the majority of whom died as a result of police brutality, have
all resulted in considerably high amounts of unrest across the country, showing
that the racism of the past is unfortunately still around today. So it’s
fitting that a film like this comes out that tells the story of a group of
individuals who dealt with the exact same thing in California in the late 80’s
but stood up to it, making them prophets of their time. This serves as the
basis for ‘Straight Outta Compton’, the true story of, as described by the
poster, ‘the most dangerous group in the world’, N.W.A.; Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Dr.
Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. Produced by Cube and Dre and directed by F. Gary
Gray, who had previously directed Cube in 1995’s ‘Friday’, ‘Straight Outta
Compton’ is an energized and emotionally-charged biopic that provides a truly
captivating portrait of the popular but controversial hip-hop group. Sure it
may not cover all of the beats of the considerably large history of N.W.A. but
what is featured here all comes together nicely in one hard-hitting musical
biopic that is quite relevant given the current circumstances.
In 1986, young Compton residents O’Shea Jackson AKA Ice Cube
(played by Cube’s own son, O’Shea Jackson Jr.), Andre Young AKA Dr. Dre (Corey
Hawkins), and Eric Wright AKA Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) traverse through life in
the violent California neighborhood, constantly having to deal with things like
gang violence and police brutality. Along with their friends Antoine Carraby
AKA DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) and Lorenzo Patterson AKA MC Ren (Aldis Hodge),
the five decide to form a new hip-hop group, N.W.A., as part of Eazy-E’s new
label Ruthless Records. After an early success with their single
‘Boyz-n-the-Hood’, the group hires Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) as their manager
and the group achieves even greater success, along with attracting much
controversy (especially from law enforcement), with their debut album ‘Straight
Outta Compton’, inspired by their personal experiences in the hood. But as time
goes on, both Ice Cube and Dr. Dre start to suspect that they’re being played
by Heller and the two of them end up leaving the group to pursue solo careers,
with the latter forming Death Row Records with Suge Knight (R. Marcus Taylor),
while also dealing with the pressures of their newfound stardom.
Some have stated that the history of N.W.A. is so extensive
that it is capable of producing at least a whole trilogy of films focusing on
the group’s formation, solo ventures, and the decline/death of Eazy-E,
respectively. Instead of going that route, that history is condensed into a two
and a half hour film. Obviously that does mean that certain elements of the
story were cut like some of the group members’ unethical actions, most
infamously Dr. Dre as evident through the recent controversy surrounding his
abusive behavior towards women. But even at two and a half hours long and given
what’s there in the film and what isn’t, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ more than
succeeds in regards to recreating what life was like for the members of N.W.A.
in the late 80’s and early 90’s, including being witnesses to the Rodney King
beating. Scenes of the subsequent LA riots and other various moments including
the death of Dre’s brother (even if it’s only a minor part of the overall
story) and of course the death of Eazy-E have a major emotional drive to them,
resulting in a film that is just full of energy even in parts when it sort of
drags, which is mostly during the film’s latter half after Cube and Dre have
already left the group. This is a case of a musical biopic where it is more
about the atmosphere than it is about the music and in the case of N.W.A., it was
definitely the right route to go.
The most notable aspect about the film’s cast is that Ice
Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., plays his father in the film. While some view
this as nepotism, at the end of the day there really isn’t anyone better for
the role. He 100% looks and acts just like his father. As for the other two
main leads, Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, they may not be the offspring of
their respective characters but they are equally as excellent in capturing the
attitudes, the passion, and mannerisms of Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, respectively,
with Mitchell in particular really standing out due to the fierceness of his
performance and the film really makes an effort to pay tribute to ‘the
godfather of Gangsta rap’. At the end of the day, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E
are the three primary protagonists of the film. So while MC Ren and DJ Yella
were just as important as the other members of the group, in this film they are
generally overshadowed in favor of the film placing a greater focus on the
primary trio. With that said, though, Neil Brown Jr. and Aldis Hodge are also
solid in their performances as is Paul Giamatti, as usual, as N.W.A. manager
Jerry Heller. And even though this film is produced by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre and
even when considering all of the stuff that was left out, it never really feels
like the film tries to 100% glorify all of the things that its protagonists did
during this time. For what could be viewed and labeled as a ‘vanity project’,
it really isn’t that vain.
At just 147 minutes long, ‘Straight Outta Compton’
admittedly has a lot to cover in regards to telling the lengthy history of
N.W.A. Obviously not everything was addressed in this film and it could even be
argued that it tries to do a bit too much in its given runtime. But even with
that in mind, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ still stands strong thanks to F. Gary Gray’s
solid direction and the talented cast portraying the members of N.W.A,
including O’Shea Jackson Jr. as his father Ice Cube and Jason Mitchell as the
late Eazy-E. Even though the film is produced by former N.W.A. members Ice Cube
and Dr. Dre, the film never really feels like a vanity project as it even has
the balls to highlight some of the flaws of its protagonists. But at the end of
the day, the key reason why ‘Straight Outta Compton’ works as well as it does is
the unfortunate fact that a lot of the things that the members of N.W.A.
endured in their time are still occurring today. Just like last year with ‘Selma’,
‘Straight Outta Compton’ is a timely release that showcases how far we as a
society still have to go as a result of our prejudiced past. It just so happens
to come as the result of an energetic and emotionally charged musical biopic
about the history of a group of individuals from one of the toughest
neighborhoods in California who came together at the right time and forever changed
the hip-hop genre.
Rating: 4.5/5
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