Cast: This is a big cast of look-a-likes, mainly focused on Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell). The biggest name worth pointing out is Paul Giamatti.
Plot: This tells the story of NWA, from when the group started in Compton to the death of Eazy-E in 1995. It covers how they came together, the phenomenal success of "Straight Outta Compton", the turbulent breakup, and how the breakup basically shaped the music industry during West Coast Rap's rise to prominence in the early 90s.
Thoughts:
I came into this with about the ideal amount of knowledge. I'm aware of the basic outline of what happened. I knew that Ice Cube left first, that Suge Knight becomes a big player, and that E dies of AIDS. I recognize Ruthless and Death Row Records. I didn't know the exact beats, so that allowed me to still be surprised by enough of it to keep it entertaining. For anyone at all familiar with the history of all this, it's a lot of fun. It plays like a checklist of all the things that need to happen. Snoop shows up. Tupac's alive. Bone Thugsn' Harmony are mentioned throughout. The Chronic happens. Every couple minutes there's another mention of something for the fans.
Pretty much the whole cast is on point. O'Shea Jackson Jr. unsurprisingly does his father proud. Jason Mitchell doesn't play Eazy-E like a saint or sinner, which is a tough balance. Corey Hawkins probably feels like the person most neutered by his character being alive to veto his portrayal (or maybe that's exactly how Dre was. I'm just guessing. His character has less of an edge). Even Giamatti as Jerry Heller, NWA's original manager, who could easily have been a mustache-twirling villain, is played very fairly. I was impressed how much the movie tries to show more than one side of many of the people's stories.
The problem with the movie is a common one to music biopics. The story of nearly any musician is more interesting early than it is late. It's more exciting to see the men of NWA go from Compton to worldwide fame and controversy than when it becomes the story of a bunch of rich guys bickering over record contracts. The script works around that as best as it can, but it's unavoidable. The first hour is the high point. After that, I'd rather just watch a good documentary about the rest of the story.
Elephant in the Room: Isn't this a case of history being written by the winners? It absolutely is. There's a lot of story to cover here and shortcuts are taken, people are omitted, and roles are diminished. I can't fault of the screenwriters though. I, a common observer, still know who Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E are. I'm much less likely to see a movie told from the perspective of DJ Yella, MC Ren, or Arabian Prince. It follows the winners' story because that story isn't even that well known.
To Sum Things Up:
The performances and soundtrack are enough to be worth the price of admission. The performances are solid. At moments, the movie is as good as anything I've seen this year (the Detroit concert, for example), but it ends with almost no momentum.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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