Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90% (7.5/10) Box Office: Against a $29 million budget, Compton has pulled in a hugely impressive $114 in just two weeks, and by the end of three weeks, will have added another dump-truck full of cash thanks to international releases. Expect to see a Tupac-Biggie follow-up within the next two or three years. The Verdict: One of the biggest surprises of the summer and unquestionably one of the best music biopics in years, Straight Outta Compton is an epic, energetic, outrageously entertaining and unexpectedly emotional look at the rise and fall of the inimitable gangsta rap group N.W.A. With director F. Gary Gray and cinematographer Matthew Libatique rooting the audience in a firm sense of time of place, the five largely unknown young performers making up the group are given the perfect canvas to deliver freakishly chameleonic performances, with Ice Cube's son O'Shea Jackson, Jr. (who plays his father) and Jason Mitchell (Easy-E) being of particular note. It's tough to imagine any fan of the group not falling hook, line and sinker for this comprehensive and passionate film that adheres to biopic formula but at the same time doesn't waste a single minute of its lengthy 147-minute screen time. Who ever expected a movie like this to end up being one of the year's best so far? A triumph.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
