Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89% The immensely positive reaction to F. Gary Gray's N.W.A. biopic appears to have occurred as a result of lowered expectations; it's almost as if the movie was met with glimmering reviews because nobody really thought it was going to be any good. When it turned out to be perfectly serviceable slice of hip-hop entertainment - and that's what it is, by the way: serviceable - the critics got so excited that they overrated this thing in a major way. And couldn't it have been a bit shorter? Granted, there's a sizeable story to be told here, but after two hours the picture starts to drag and it's hard to keep invested. The biggest problem with Straight Outta Compton is in its script. Parts of the film are rendered with the dramatic skill of a made-for-TV movie. Everything is spelled out to the audience in a way that gives the characters and their predicaments a sense of fakeness. That's not to say that Straight Outta Compton isn't enjoyable, because it's the arguably the best movie of its kind. But there was never all that much competition to begin with.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
