Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

87% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 210 reviews)

Runtime: I saw the Director's Cut, meaning it was 167 minutes long

Directed by: F. Gary Gray

Starring: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge

From: Universal/Legendary/New Line Cinema

It was about time I saw this movie. On Thursday, I'll do something else that is long overdue. Read all about it below: 

On Thanksgiving, I will FINALLY post a Best of 2015 list. I know, 2016 is almost over, but that got pushed to the back burner and some of the highly regarded movies from last year I've seen, I did not particularly like, so it's taken some time to find 10 worthwhile entries. I can say that this movie will be on that list. I can't adequately explain why I did not see this sooner, let alone not watch it on the big screen, as it always sounded interesting to me and it got all those rave reviews. Finally, I saw the movie last night, and it was the Director's Cut, meaning it was 167 minutes long. It did not seem like it was almost 3 hours long.

Considering this is a true life story where a group of young men came from poor inner-city life and had to deal with such things as police harassment but due to being tremendously skilled in the art of rapping became famous around the world and because they invented the genre of gangsta rap and spoke bluntly about various controversial topics scared the authorities and even got the FBI mad at them... only to let money and jealousy (along with probably being ripped off by their white manager) drive them apart... then there's a reconciliation, a tragic death, and two members of the group are still successful today (in music and outside of it), no wonder this eventually became a movie, as it's a hell of a story. Of course, things are slanted because it was produced by Dre, Cube, and Eazy-E's widow but I will presume it's reasonably accurate-although I do not know if Jerry Heller was as crooked as the movie made him out to be; likewise, I have no trouble believing everything the film said about Suge Knight-so I won't dwell too much on this.

The movie is well-filmed by veteran director F. Gary Gray and the young cast did a swell job as Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella; as everyone noted already, O'Shea Jackson Jr. as swell as his own dad Cube; it was not just a cute gimmick or nepotism. The rest also did a nice job, with Paul Giamatti a standout as the late Heller. Besides the classic songs from the group/them as solo artists, you also hear funk songs that not only inspired the members of NWA but were among the many songs of the era that were sampled for NWA tunes and other ditties done by those who were part of the West Coast/G Funk scene. It is an exciting movie from beginning to end which captures very well the feeling of the Southern California setting and how things were back then; sometimes you see actual news clips of such things as the Rodney King riots and the drug war, among other hot topics. The era was captured perfectly and it was important, as that was a big part of the movie and its vibe.

I'll be honest in that I may be biased because for years I've enjoyed the songs of NWA, Dre, Cube, and Eazy-E. It sure as hell is a lot better than much of the garbage that is the popular rap game of the 21st century. Desiigner, Lil Yachty and D.R.A.M? Get the hell out of here with that crap! But no matter that, this is not a dull and staid and cliché autobiography. I mean, it could have been even longer in order to cover various things that weren't given too much attention or glossed over which I knew about beforehand. That said, this is still a biopic I am glad was made and I am happy it was a far bigger hit worldwide than expected.