Straight Outta Compton: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Follow the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. as they forge their anger and inner-city frustrations into the most potent weapon imaginable: their music.
Growing up, I was introduced to N.W.A. at a time when I probably shouldn’t have been and I watched a lot of MTV as a kid so there was no shortage of knowledge of the group. I even saw some of the now famous interviews that were given but everything that happened after that was kind of shrouded in mystery. There was always someone speculating on certain things or telling certain stories and I felt that no one (other than who was involved) really got the full picture. I know that this film has been in development for a very long time so it finally being released is a big deal for a lot of people. We finally get to see a lot of the stories on the big screen and the best part of it all is that actual members of the group were involved in bringing it to the screen. It really was amazing to see the inception of the group and how each member crossed paths with each other to create something that became infamous. The casting was something that I was always worried about. I’ve seen so many biopics in the past to know that it can be 50/50 with the casting sometimes but this film has it down perfectly. Every actor fits their role exactly to their real life counterpart from that time but the one that was an obvious jaw dropper was O’Shea Jackson, Jr. and if you aren’t aware, he is Ice Cube’s actual son. I mean the resemblance is uncanny! I thought he did a phenomenal job for this being his first role. The story was fantastic to see play out and I came away knowing stuff that I didn’t entirely know. What I didn’t expect was to see was the inclusion of Death Row Records in the plot and that was actually kind of cool. Now I want to see a movie of the East and West Coast feud because that’s when stuff got insane but who knows if that will ever happen. I dug everything about this film and the acting was great for the most part. There were a few moments where I felt the line delivery was a bit generic but nothing to the point where it was annoying or unwatchable. All in all, if you were an 80’s and 90’s kid then I think you’ll enjoy this film and I guarantee that you’ll have N.W.A. songs in your head for a few days after as well. 8/10
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes – Only a few scenes here that aren’t very long but worth checking out.
Deleted Song Performance – A performance that was cut of the song Compton’s N The House.
N.W.A. The Origins – Members of the group along with the cast and crew talk about the influence N.W.A. had during their time and they talk a bit about how they went about recreating that.
Impact – The feature looks at the cultural impact that the group has made.
Director’s Journey – This take a look at the riot scenes and how it was to make them.
The Streets: Filming in Compton – A piece on filming one of the scenes on the actual streets of Compton.
N.W.A Performs in Detroit – This feature is about the infamous performance of F**k The Police and recreating it for the film.
Becoming N.W.A. – A look at the casting process and how they tried to get actors that felt authentic for each role.
Audio Commentary With Director/Producer F. Gary Gray
