Review: “Straight Outta Compton” Is A Long Look at an Amazing Part of Music History
Rachel Smith ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Straight Outta Compton is like if a documentary and a basic narrative film had a beautiful baby. The camera acts as person at times, watching back and forth as old friends are joking with each, bringing the audience into the conversation. At other times, it is a tool to separate the viewer from the action, especially when capturing intense moments of violence. This film is based on the five members of N.W.A and their superstardom, but it is also largely about their bouts with the law and the violence that they faced before/after they hit it big.
The casting of the characters is well done, a huge nod to the actors for seamlessly stepping into these roles and making them believable. It helps that Ice Cube’s look-a-like son plays him but everyone had general resemblances to their characters and their portrayal’s really brought it all together. This is largely thanks to the writers who captured their sense of friendship and brotherhood in the beginning. They had nothing to lose back then and you could feel that raw hopefulness and loyalty. The shift into their demise is slowly hinted at which makes the transition easier on the audience.
Though it was all about the members of N.W.A it did fast forward into their lives after the group. There are cameos of a young Snoop Dogg and Tupac (which most of the audience gasped at the sight of because they thought it was actually Tupac.) Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor) and Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) are the villains of the film and are played convincingly.
This film is a tribute to the group that changed the music industry but it is also a tribute to Eazy-E who died from HIV in 1995. The film is dedicated to him in the credits, which was followed by audience applause. The whole film got different moments of applause whether it was from a performance, which were all true to the original recordings, or from a well timed joke between friends. Overall this film has a lot of great moments. Though it takes a chunk out of the day to watch, it’s definitely one to pencil into movie watching schedules.
Overall Grade: B+
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