‘Straight Outta Compton’ Review: Sober and straightforward

Oggs Cruz

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‘Straight Outta Compton’ Review: Sober and straightforward
''Straight Outta Compton' keeps all the facts in line, but does away with any intriguing speculation,' writes Oggs Cruz

In one rare scene that displays a bit of humorous irreverence for its hip-hop heroes, Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) fumbles on the first line of what would be N.W.A.’s first hit Boyz-N-The-Hood. Eazy only gets it right when Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), even with the constant heckling of Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.), guides him out of the distracted delivery of the song’s rapped exclamations.

The scene is of course telling of the friendship that is tested throughout the film. F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton is in a nutshell a rather straightforward retelling of the N.W.A. predictable rise, fall, and rise amidst Los Angeles’ famous police brutality, the music industry’s even more famous cutthroat competition and contract-based corruption, and other personal dramas.

Photo courtesy of United International Pictures

Venerated artifacts

The rest of Gray’s film is more sober, almost bereft of any wit and humor. It almost seems like Gray and his writers Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff are tasked to treat their subjects like artifacts of the past, worthy of as much veneration as their fictional confrontations and showdowns can muster. It’s all decent entertainment, carved out of something that is on its face, feeds on chaos.

Photo courtesy of United International Pictures

Straight Outta Compton is mostly shot indoors. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique shoots a lot of the scenes without a lot of needless adornment. The film is visually taut, relying mostly on adeptly framed sequences where the drama is subtly complemented by a shift in lighting or gradual movements. It’s an elegant and efficient film, hardly beholden to eyecandy to communicate its message.

The film could have been a showcase of caricatures, especially since a lot of the actors are portraying people whose larger-than-life personalities are ripe for trite imitation. Thankfully, the film’s performances are all mature, grounded not on aping to perfection but on pushing the right emotions out of the scenes and sequences. 

Suspiciously clean

The film however feels a tad too suspiciously clean, with most of its characters depicted as beautifully imperfect artists. Of course, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre are not just subjects of the biopic. They also serve as producers, making it more than obvious that the film depict them with as little controversy as possible.

 

Straight Outta Compton keeps all the facts in line, but does away with any intriguing speculation. Gray and his writers instead pepper the film with scenes of propagandist relevance, such as when Dr. Dre, in what resembles something straight out of a Jesus Christ anecdote, trashes a party in his studio to dictate his immaculate work ethic, or when Ice Cube rejects a contract out of defiance.

Photo courtesy of United International Pictures

Molding an agenda 

It’s all good. The film may be whitewashed, but it has its heart in the right place. Straight Outta Compton is precise in the emotions it wants to evoke. Through its deft maneuverings out of the tricky corners that define the trio’s lives and artistry, it is able to concentrate on molding an agenda that renders the film more relevant than just being an accurate depiction of the wayward lives of West Coast rappers.

In detailing the humble beginnings of its rappers as victims of a system of blunt prejudices, the film echoes the sentiment against police brutality that gave birth to the music. In a way, the film further legitimizes the genre, granting it a motivation that puts its place within the larger social milieu, rationalizing its heightened angst and anger, and putting perspective to all the indulgent beats and rhythms.

The film keeps its eye on this agenda. Even if the narrative gets tangled with its multiple focus on characters who have gone separate ways, Grey manages to balance the multi-faceted drama with his grip on a theme that graduates everything else from trivial to significant. – Rappler.com


Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ ‘Tirad Pass.’ Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema. Profile photo by Fatcat Studios




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