"Straight Outta Compton" is that rare bio-pic about N.W.A. that resonates beyond its material. It argues that whatever ugliness we heard in N.W.A.'s music hasn't gone away. It also implicitly draws a line from the police harassment that inspired the band's most incendiary track, 'F* tha Police,' to the recent killings of black men by cops in Ferguson, Cincinnati and elsewhere. Among its main attractions are a dazzling O'Shea Jackson Jr., playing his father, Ice Cube and newcomer Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, both founding members of N.W.A. along with MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), DJ Yella (Neill Brown Jr.) and future super-producer Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins).
Director F. Gary Gray paints Compton as an inner-city minefield of gangs, drug dealers and cops that informed the band's hard-edged sensibility. Paul Giamatti is terrific as Jerry Heller, the faded but still savvy manager who helped turn N.W.A. into a double-platinum-selling sensation. In keeping with rap tradition, "Straight Outta Compton" is definitely self-aggrandizing, violent (rival rap mogul Suge Knight comes off as dark and vengeful) and more than a little misogynistic (the women are mostly groupies). Still, the movie treats Eazy-E's 1995 death from AIDS with sensitivity. For those aware of gangsta rap, but not aware of its origins, "Straight Outta Compton" is worth seeing.
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