☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Straight
Outta Compton (2015) – F. Gary Gray
I spun N.W.A. a few times at WCWM in the ‘80s,
but Public Enemy was more my bag at the time and then I drifted away from
rap/hip-hop altogether. So, I only knew
part of the story of the rise and fall of the gangsta rap supergroup featuring
Eazy-E., Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre (among others).
Director F. Gary Gray follows the contours of the usual biopic – however,
tracking several major characters unavoidably results in giant ellipses in
their personal stories (particularly when it comes to the women in their
lives). The fact that this is yet
another cautionary tale about the perils of fame and bad business deals makes
it feel familiar even though Paul Giamatti executes the villain role with some
aplomb and at least one protagonist (Ice Cube, of course, played incredibly by
his own son) is able to defy the usual arc. So, in the end the music itself
carries the picture (as it should) and just as I was wondering why I didn’t
remember the N.W.A. reunion that finally seems to be coming together,
everything falls apart with Eazy-E’s death from AIDS. Reflecting now, it’s depressing to think that
N.W.A.’s bravado focus on police brutality in the black community had no effect
at all. If anything, the problem seems even worse these days but that’s
probably just a function of the new availability of viral videos when previously
things stayed hidden (and/or were ignored).
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