Originally Posted by
Macready
Straight Outta Lo-Cash...sorry wrong movie.
With a raging 103 fever accompanying a no nonsense sinus infection nothing was keeping me from going to this screening for the press. I noticed reviews starting to trickle in last week but I ignored them and did not read one word, this was a movie I wanted my focus to be on 100% with nothing to sway how I felt. NWA was such a huge part of me growing up and moving from grade school into high school a movie dedicated to show a side of them we have only just assumed and read about demanded my full attention. Many parts (and firsts) of my life happened with this music in the background...thus my review of Straight Outta Compton...
The movie starts out a bit questionable for me as we are witnessing Eazy-E getting caught up in a full on SWAT raid on a place he is selling drugs. A chase ensues in which Eazy ends up running across and jumping from rooftop to rooftop to get away. It's a great action piece filmed wonderfully but I thought we were getting an NWA biopic? Now I don't doubt something of this nature may have taken place but if I did not know I was watching a movie about NWA this would have fit right in with as an action scene from a Fast and Furious flick. It is that ridiculous.
After this the movie settles down quickly and becomes more of what I was expecting, which makes the opening stand out of place much more. I then found myself in that comfort zone I was hoping for as I watched the introduction of each group member unfold and essentially form what we know them as NWA.
This is where nostalgia began to take over and I found myself flashing back to points back in the day where all of this was so prevalent. The film mainly focuses on Eazy, Cube, and Dre...Ren and Yella at times feel as though they are just along for the ride as we are in the audience. Granted they are not the prominent members of the group but the movie makes them feel tacked on not only for the film but the group as well.
The movie absolutely shines during the concert scenes but even more so in the studio recording sessions when they are all hanging out and truly having a good time. The chemistry shown here is one of a family and it amplifies some of the anger in their lyrics much more. Back when I was a young delinquent listening to their music it came off as just a ploy to be over the top as a shtick, this shows it truly is not the case. These are the best parts of the movie by far and when this portion comes to an end the movie suffers from some major pacing issues.
Before I touch upon the pacing, I have to say although Giamatti is outstanding he is written in as the token "white devil" although he does nothing drastically intentional to do the group harm. He is more of a slinky weasel taking advantage of the group here and there for his own benefit. It is a role we have seen countless times before but this is where that opening comes in to play again. It makes me wonder how much of his character is true to the part or made up for the Hollywood of it all. The thing here though is he is an integral part of NWA and not just a quick action sequence so there is more at stake.
The pacing issues start when it starts paying homage or nodding towards everything NWA created. All their separate career paths, record labels, copy cats, groups they influenced, talent they found becomes extremely drawn out and kind of unnecessary. This is where the movie actually feels the two and a half hours run time it actually is...and then some. There is no doubt this movie could have been at least a half hour shorter in length.
As a trip down memory lane the movie is brilliant. If you grew up with NWA and listened to their music religiously like I did, I'm talking smile from ear to ear goosebumps on your arms brilliant. At the same time if you are a movie buff (like most of us here are) you can't help but feel a little disappointed at times. But when then you have NWA on screen, in concert...music blasting in stadium thumping, state of the art theater sound system you don't care for a few minutes. You will find yourself nodding to the beats and mouthing the lyrics just like you always have. Not saying I did that though. OK, fuck yeah I did that!
The ending credits are special and tie up this homage perfectly. I have to say homage instead of biopic because I feel the movie took way to many liberties. Nothing wrong with that but it is not what I was expecting. But yeah, outside of a shameless Beats by Dre plug during the ending credits they are special.
Biased score 9/10
Realistic score for this as a movie 7/10. The middle portion really drags it down...it's simply to long for no good reason.