[wp-review]
During the late 1980’s the streets of Compton, California were some of the most dangerous in the country. The plague of crack cocaine was growing at an alarming rate as the violent gang drug business propelled its use. The LAPD specialized gang unit were leading the charge on the war on drugs that left residents of the Southern California community distrustful of authority. Rising from all this was the hip-hop group N.W.A(Niggaz Wit Attitudes) consisting of Eric Wright (Eazy E) O’Shea Jackson (Ice Cube), Andre Young (Dr. Dre), Lorenzo Patterson (MC Ren) and Antoine Carraby (DJ Yella). As a group, they manage to merge the things they saw going on in their society into the revolutionary music they created. Their biopic STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON chronicles that rise to fame and how they became the world’s most dangerous group. It is and exceptional entry in to the biopic genre and is one of the best films of the year.
The film opens by covering the individual members in Compton circa1986; Eazy-E, who at the time was a drug dealer, knows there is typically one or two ways out of that game; dead or in jail. Dr. Dre, a local DJ who spins regularly at Compton clubs and dreams of being a DJ, cannot see himself being stuck in a cubical working a 9-5. Ice Cube is a talented 16-year-old who wants nothing more than to be a rapper. Deciding to join forces with another local rapper MC Ren and Dre’s friend DJ Yella, they used their frustration as fuel for their art and gave the people the one thing they desperately needed: a voice. The film is standard biopic fair with the covers “Humble Beginnings” as mentioned above. The “Rise to Fame” portion includes showing the group rising in popularity locally by performing in clubs which leads to them eventually recording their first record, BOYZ-N-THE HOOD, with non-rapper Eazy E on vocals. This scene happens to be one of the films funniest moments. The success of the song attracts the attention of music manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) who eventually co-founded Ruthless Records with Eazy. It is Heller’s business and personal relationship with Eazy that would forever impact the group.
We see the group recording their hit STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON and the anthem F*** THA POLICE and given a glimpse as to what inspired the song. This is quickly followed by the “Top of the World” portion which finds the group performing at sold out shows and enjoying the fruits of their success with many parties and many ladies. I was expecting this portion to be a little more graphic but it was handled with discretion and somewhat tastefully. There is a very funny joke involving the origin of a popular catchphrase from Ice Cube’s film FRIDAY, however as always no spoilers here. The “Downfall” section is where films of this type earn their stripes. It is more interesting to see this aspect play out than the artist is successful. Disputes over the almighty dollar begin to divide the group. Cube was first to notice that the money was not coming in like it should, though Eazy and Jerry seemed to be living the good life. The other members do not listen because they were not paying attention to the business side of their success. Cube would leave the group followed by Dre a year later. The remainder of film, “The Aftermath”, deals with the group pursuing their own solo projects, making diss records at one another and facing a tragedy that leads to the ultimate demise of one of the members.
Music biopics have been very inconsistent lately, but director F. Gary Grey has finally gotten the genre right where other directors have failed. Recently both JERSEY BOYS and the James Brown biopic GET ON UP were examples of style over substance. Here Grey gets out of the way and lets the story and the music take front and center without the interference of directorial flourishes that marred those films. I was expecting this film to good but not great and I was surprised at how good it is. It is well written, directed and acted. By just telling the story without any gimmicks the film has a real documentary feel to it. The live performances feel real which helps adds realism of the film.
The main actors, all virtually newcomers, all shine in their roles especially Jackson, Hawkins and Mitchell. Now the bad. Not all the actors are successful unfortunately. R. Marcus Taylor who portrays Suge Knight is about half the size of the real Knight but even worse he is not able to bring out the menacing characteristics that made him such an imposing figure. Yes he does mean and evil things in the film but when he is not acting like that he just does not seem to be a person to be feared. The actor who portrays Snoop Dogg is even worse. Makes me wish the real Snoop had been cast to play himself The worst error the film commits is not providing that crucial scene that shows just who the group came up with their name. One would expect to at least see that in the film. With the film ending in 1996 there is still more to N.W.A. story that could have told. As it stands the ending that exists seems to be tacked on and ends on a character that is the least dynamic. Even at 2.5 hours the film feels incomplete but it is still highly entertaining film Rumor has it the original cut of the film ran 3.5 hours. I hope that cut finds its way to the public one day.
Prior to the film, Mrs. HillStreet was indifferent about the group prior to the film though she had heard Eazy E’s album once or twice back in the day. She also found the film to be highly entertaining and gives the film 3.5 Stars as well.
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