Straight Outta Compton
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Written by: Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff
Starring: O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown, Jr., Aldis Hodge, Paul Giamatti, Marlon Yates, Jr., R. Marcus Taylor, Carra Patterson, Alexandra Shipp, Elena Goode, Keith Powers, Lakeith Lee Stanfield, Cleavon McClendon III, Corey Williams
Biography/Drama/Music - 147 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 12 Aug 2015
Written by: Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff
Starring: O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown, Jr., Aldis Hodge, Paul Giamatti, Marlon Yates, Jr., R. Marcus Taylor, Carra Patterson, Alexandra Shipp, Elena Goode, Keith Powers, Lakeith Lee Stanfield, Cleavon McClendon III, Corey Williams
Biography/Drama/Music - 147 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 12 Aug 2015
Straight Outta Compton, recounting events from the late’ 80s into the early ‘90s, will ride a wave of contemporary issues attaining relevance even in 2015. It is quite rare a biopic spinning yarns from a previous era looks eerily similar to current events. Compton’s N.W.A. gained notoriety by rapping about what they saw out their front doors and experienced in the streets. Arbitrary arrests and consistent police harassment factored into their daily lives, so “Fuck tha Police” was born. New York City hip-hop was already alive and well but N.W.A.’s rapid assent proved there were new and relevant voices with something to say from the west coast. Straight Outta Compton is a biopic with an impact. Plenty of warts are whitewashed away and the narrative proceeds episodically from a to b to c, but those episodes land with a bang. N.W.A. didn’t last long as a group, but their impact is still felt.
Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E’s widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, produced Straight Outta Compton. While they leave in most of the group’s rough patches including infighting, backstabbing, and womanizing, plenty is left out including run-ins with the law and battery against women. Arch villain Suge Knight is accurately depicted though, a menacing ne’er-do-well ready to pistol whip any man who accidentally parks in the wrong parking spot. The archetypes shine through the best: Dr. Dre is the master mixer behind the beats, Ice Cube is the militant lyricist, Eazy-E is the initial money man and aggressive leader, and MC Ren and DJ Yella were those other two guys who are now trivia questions when asked to name all five N.W.A. members. For either time reasons or even spite, original member Arabian Prince is never even mentioned.
Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E’s widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, produced Straight Outta Compton. While they leave in most of the group’s rough patches including infighting, backstabbing, and womanizing, plenty is left out including run-ins with the law and battery against women. Arch villain Suge Knight is accurately depicted though, a menacing ne’er-do-well ready to pistol whip any man who accidentally parks in the wrong parking spot. The archetypes shine through the best: Dr. Dre is the master mixer behind the beats, Ice Cube is the militant lyricist, Eazy-E is the initial money man and aggressive leader, and MC Ren and DJ Yella were those other two guys who are now trivia questions when asked to name all five N.W.A. members. For either time reasons or even spite, original member Arabian Prince is never even mentioned.
One of the quickest and most assured ways to catapult to stardom is to be controversial, and if you’re lucky, banned in some quarters. N.W.A. barely had any radio play because of their profanity and subject matter. Parental, family values, and law enforcement organizations lost their minds over “Fuck tha Police”. N.W.A. weren’t the only rappers directing their wrath at police siege mentality, Public Enemy and KRS-One were far more socially conscious, but N.W.A. didn’t pause to explain their feelings through metaphor. They marched straight out on stage and had entire arenas chanting, “Fuck tha Police!” What the film and many people nowadays forget is that only a small fraction of N.W.A.’s music promoted awareness of law enforcement vs. the black man. The vast majority of it was misogynist; women were only to be referred to as hookers and hoes. For every “Straight Outta Compton” anthem, there were another five “Nutz On Ya Chin” and “Hit the H**ker” messages.
Director F. Gary Gray, responsible for the only good Friday film – the original, cast impressive young talent to portray the five upstarts. Not only did Gray have to find boys who physically resembled their characters, but their voices must almost match. Ice Cube was low but loud and crisp; Eazy-E was high-pitched and more excited than vengeful. Playing Ice Cube is his son, O’Shea Jackson, Jr. Father and son look similar and the younger O’Shea knocks his dad’s rhymes out of the park. Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E is almost as close physically and tonally. Corey Hawkins (2014’s Non-Stop) as Dr. Dre isn’t the closest match but he gets the high-powered emotional scenes to chew on, while Aldis Hodge (2013’s The East) as MC Ren and Neil Brown Jr. as DJ Yella mostly stand around in the background.
A major fixture in the group but not up on stage slinging raps is Paul Giamatti (2015’s San Andreas) as manager Jerry Heller. Jerry latched on to Eazy-E after his first single and was the music industry visionary who correctly guessed white folks in suburbia would lay down money for the new sensation labeled ‘gangsta rap’. In a montage, Tom Brokaw says most of N.W.A.’s album sales come from people who “wouldn’t dream of going anywhere near the ghetto.” This is the same reason the film as a whole works with the audience. I didn’t grow up in the ghetto; I have nothing in common with Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre. However, through the power of empathy, I was frustrated and pissed off when the police made the boys get down on the ground and humiliated them just because they were standing outside the music studio in a white part of town. My mid-30 year old head was moving along to the “Fuck tha Police” beat as much as anybody else’s in the theater.
Straight Outta Compton covers a lot of ground in its almost two and a half hour running time. Noticeable highlights include the infamous Detroit concert where the cops warn the boys if they play “Fuck tha Police” they were headed to jail and the back and forth battle rap montage between Ice Cube and the remaining N.W.A. members after he split from the group over royalty disputes. Even though various entities of N.W.A. spent just as much time fighting amongst each other as working together, most of them are portrayed as ‘good guys’ in the film. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre specifically are shown as winners and others are blamed whenever they make poor choices. Jerry Heller and Suge Knight are the bad guys; Suge Knight comes off just as bad as the police.
There are a few scenes with overt editing errors and some amateur acting on the part of the boys but this somewhat filtered biopic is a fun ride. The best actor is Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E but by far the best rapper is O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube. Only the guys actually there in real life know how much of Straight Outta Compton is the truth and how much of it is what they want perceived as the truth. I have no doubt Jerry Heller and Suge Knight would make a completely different film. F. Gary Gray’s film hits hard though. He uses the footage of Rodney King’s beating as a backdrop of everything Compton experienced that N.W.A. added their soundtrack to. They shined a light on an ignored and out of mind population segment. Ice Cube said it best, “Speak a little truth and people lose their minds.”
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