F. Gary Gray started his career with the cult classic that is Friday, and yet - across the span of his career - he has made a high number of forgettable and uninspired pictures, including (but no limited to) Set It Off, A Man Apart and that annoying remake of The Italian Job. He also directed the ill-judged travesty Be Cool, the sub-par sequel to Get Shorty. All that is a way of saying that F. Gary Gray isn't a particularly consistent filmmaker, but this year he managed to pull out all the stops and - against the odds - made what is without question his best film to date: Straight Outta Compton. Not bad for the man whose filmography looks like a muddle of random titles you'd find at the bottom of a bargain bin. Straight Outta Compton is not, by any means, a masterpiece. But as a biopic which set out to chronicle the rise and fall of hip hop group N.W.A., it's hard to think of how - as a motion picture clearly intended to please the masses - it could have been bettered. It's plainly involving to watch, whether you're familiar with the music or not, and the energy that carries the film clearly comes from Gray's controlled direction. Credit where credit's due. You're almost forgiven for the almost outrageously dull Be Cool, F. Gary Gray. Almost.
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.
