Straight Outta Compton
Starring: Corey Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti
Directed By: F. Gary Gray
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[rating: 4/5]
Biopics are an interesting beast. Depending ultimately on who is making them they can be an eye-opening, potentially shocking and emotionally resonate character study that holds no punches and tells the story as it is, or was. On the other side of the biopic coin, however, you have a glorified version of reality where punches are pulled and important character details are set to the wayside in an attempt to show the real people portrayed in the film in the best light possible. In the latter’s case the people involved in the project are usually the ones being portrayed in the film. There is a gray area, of course, but largely these kinds of films fall mostly on one side or the other. With Straight Outta Compton already raking in the dough as one of the most successful biopics of all time it’s important for us to step back and wonder if we are getting the entire story here.
Compton is a pretty bleak place. Poverty, crime and police brutality run rampant throughout the streets and kids need to learn quick how to survive. There are those, however, who strived for more. Who, while they love where they come from, also want to break out of it. It is here we meet Andre aka Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), a down-on-his –luck DJ trapped in a dead-end gig at a nightclub very much caught in the past. It becomes clear to him that if he wants his own unique brand of music heard, he’s going to have to make it himself. With the help of his teenaged friend O’shea Jackson aka Ice Cube (O’shea Jackson Jr.) and a local drug dealer/entrepreneur Easy-E (Jason Mitchell), they manage to make something truly special that catches the eye of almost-washed-up music producer Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti). The ride to the top is a rough one, and knowing who they can trust turns into one of their biggest challenges.
Straight Outta Compton surprised me in many ways. Despite the vague praise I had heard of it before seeing the film I still didn’t expect something this slick. F. Gary Gray directs the absolute hell out of this film. It moves along at a fantastic pace, only dragging slightly towards the end of the second act, and looks absolutely stunning. A distinct style and look emanates from the film and some truly magnificent shots and set-pieces truly elevate it above what I was expecting from a simple biopic. The music was, of course, legendary (if NWA is your jam) and the script was imbued with a fantastic level of humour and an adequate amount of heart.
The only problem here was that none of it felt completely genuine. Any true impact and punch that this film could have had was put to the wayside in favour of showing its subjects in the best possible light. Sure, there was conflict and your usual ‘villain’ characters around them, but there were very few instances where the characters themselves were brought into question over anything more than a matter of pride. In particular the years-long rivalry between Easy-E and Ice Cube seemed rather vanilla, with little more than passive-aggressive animosity bubbling between them. I guess in a film where you have Dr. Dre attached with a producer credit they probably aren’t going to put in the fact that he is an infamous woman-beater. Also, don’t get me started on the portrayal (or lack thereof) of women in this film.
Even though the portrayal of these people in the subject matter may not have felt completely real, the performances however certainly did. Everyone involved here did an absolutely perfect job with the roles they were given. O’shea Jackson Jr. proves that he’s more than just a clone of his father (I swear he has to be a clone), proving he has the acting chops to back it up. Corey Hawkins is completely relatable in portraying a conflicted, yet unusually saint-like, Dr. Dre. Then we have Jason Mitchell as Easy-E who does an absolutely phenomenal job, one heart-breaking scene in particular will undoubtedly have anyone watching on the verge of tears.
Straight Outta Compton is a flawed film, using women as little more than window-dressing and a biased portrayal of certain characters and events that cautioned a little too much on the safe side. Still, it is an undoubtedly superbly made film with likable characters, an engaging story and a slick finish. It’s just up to the audience to try and work out the fact from the fiction.
