Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
Straight Outta Compton
Straight Outta Compton is a biographical film about the controversial rap group known as NWA. It has all five members, but the key characters of the movie are Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and Dr Dre. The story follows them through the start of their careers, rise to fame, Ice Cube leaving the group, and the years following the group splitting up as a whole. It stars O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube (he's also Ice Cubes son, which makes sense), Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Cory Hawkins as Dre, and Paul Giamatti as their manager.
With the exception of Paul Giamatti, I hadn't heard or seen any of these other actors in other films, and they all do a really good job. O'Shea Jackson Jr. is playing his dad in this movie, and he did a fantastic job selling the role. It's also worth noting that, being Ice Cubes son, he looks almost exactly like Ice Cube. Cory Hawkins is also really good as Dre, most of the cast of this movie did a really good job. The best performance in this movie was Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, who was arguably the emotional centre of the film. Since he plays such a major role for the movie, his role was probably one of the toughest ones to play as well, and he does a great job with it.
This movie changes up the plot and pace a few times throughout the movie, often switching between the three separate storylines. The first act of the film mainly follows Eazy-E, as he basically leads NWA. The second follows Ice Cube, as he left the group. The last bit is mostly about Dr Dre, years after the group has disbanded, and his work with artists such as Tupac and Snoop Dogg. And what's great about this movie is how seamless the transition is between each part of the timeline, and the fluidity between scenes with a lot of humor, and more dramatic moments. I said in my review of Ricki & the Flash, it's not that common that a movie really blends comedy and drama, and Straight Outta Compton manages to blend the two. The only downside to this is that so many stories to cover lead to the film stretching longer than I'd have liked.
Now, there's one part of this movie that I'm sure everyone who saw this movie was looking forward to, and that's the music. Any scene with music playing, be it in a studio, on a radio, at a party, or at a concert, there is so much energy in this movie. Like I said, it stretches a little long, almost 3 hours long in fact, but the positive vibe this movie has stops you from worrying about all that. Something this movie does that I can honestly say is a rarity with most movies, even ones I love, is that this movie captivates it's audience. When you're watching this movie, you're in it, it's almost like nothing else is even happening.
Final Rating
Straight Outta Compton is a fantastic movie, I loved it, despite it taking a while to wrap up (especially near the end). The actors were fantastic, I'm seriously looking forward to seeing these guys in other movies. F. Gary Gray, the director, delivers his best movie since The Negotiator, and it's one of the most memorable films of the year so-far. It's not a perfect film, but it's certainly worth your time regardless of whether or not you're familiar with NWA.
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