Film Review - Straight Outta Compton

Forrest Gump meets CB4 in a docudrama biopic of the rap music scene. It is primarily told by following the group NWA from formation to the eventual death of one of their members, with the changes in society and rap culture around them interwoven with the personal narrative.

The actors initially look to have been selected based on their appearance and likeness to the real group, including casting O'Shea Jackson Jr to play his own father. Fortunately the actors also have the skills to fill out their roles. Through the end credits there is a montage of original footage of NWA and the likeness of the actors to their original portrayals is as close as you will get without CGI intervention.

Paul Giammati is the only big name on show and to be honest they would probably have been better served without him. His presence is often distracting from the story as you can get sucked into the almost documentary nature of  the filming of all of the other characters, but he is too well known and that serves as a constant reminder that you are just watching a fictional retelling. His is also the least sympathetically portrayed character throughout the movie, probably due to the circumstances of the break-up of NWA and his current relationship (or lack of) with the movie producers. 

There is an abundance of quality music through the film, (not all rap) but in some sections this does detract as they try to cram in as many tracks as they can they. This often results in a cut away from music so another short squirt  of a track can be brought up, rather than fade it or let it play over the next scene. I think I might have made some very different sound-editting choices given the same material. 

Overall another 7 out of 10 movie. Could easily have been an 8 or 9 with just a few minor improvements.