Straight Outta Compton is a well-made if unchallenging biopic about the pioneering hip-hop group N.W.A and its founding fathers, Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), and Ice Cube (played by his son, O'Shea Jackson Jr.). Coproduced by Dre, Cube, and Eazy-E’s widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, the movie excels in capturing the detail and electrifying tone of its era at the expense of plot nuance. The shifting managerial allegiances that dominate the second half of the film are written in rock-film cliché, and it drags somewhat into a tiresome slow jam of contract disputes and ego wars.
But this isn't really a movie that aims to shed new light on its characters or the Hollywood retelling in which they find themselves. Instead, it's a celebration of figures that have risen to mythic status in the decades since, and a reminder why they rose in the first place. They were perhaps some of the boldest and most fearless recording artists of all time, and the film’s re-enactments of their performances are more thrilling than many a summer action explosion scene.
The acting is the real highlight here: Jackson Jr. is so good at playing his father that you think at points they may be the same person. From recapturing his recording-room bravado to wearing the dourly look of a wronged man, he gives a moving and powerful performance.