Straight Outta Compton (15)
Directed by F Gary Gray
3/5

Set against the backdrop of police brutality and the Rodney King riots this music biopic charts the meteoric rise of controversial gangsta rap hip hop group NWA (Niggaz wit’ Attitude) and shows that more than 20 years on sadly very little has changed.

The group, which comprised of Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Dr Dre (Corey Hawkins), Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr), DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr) and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), was raw and edgy as they rebelled against the abusive authorities in the late ’80s and early ’90s singing about the realities of life in the streets of the Compton neighbourhood in Los Angeles.

Their music was brutal and uncompromising as is the first half of this film. While it concentrates on how they revolutionised music and pop culture against police harassment and the political background of the time it proves powerful and gritty and truly fascinating even for non-hip hop aficionados.

However, it starts falling apart when NWA break-up. It plunges into a mundane biopic focused on contractual bickerings and Eazy-E’s death from Aids — one of the most powerful scenes in the film.

Produced by Dr Dre and Ice Cube — now part of the music establishment — it has been described as revisionist as it ignores Dre’s history of violence towards women. Only last week he apologised to the women concerned but without acknowledging he had attacked them.

The film completely overlooks the influential female group JJ Fad who paved the way for NWA’s Straight Outta Compton success.

The girl band put on the map Ruthless Records, founded by Eazy-E and NWA’s music manager Jerry Heller (played by the wonderfully sleazy Paul Giamatti).

Women get a bad rap in this boy’s own film by being portrayed as either hoes or bitches with not a single decent female role throughout, which, incidentally, also fails to address NWA’s misogynistic lyrics.

Ultimately, director F Gary Gray delivers a cliche-filled biopic that will have mass appeal. It is saved in the main by the charismatic performances from its young cast which includes Cube’s own son playing his younger self.

I just wish it had reflected the convictions of its subject matter and been just as brutally honest.