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Straight Outta Compton (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (23rd February 2016). |
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The Film
 The early days of gangster rap eluded me, at my school there where two firmly divided camps in the early 90's - the "rapper" kids and the "grunge" kids. I was in the latter, choosing Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden over the likes of N.W.A., and later Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Still, this phenomenon could not be ignored, it permeated popular culture, informed the way people talked, dressed and acted. Good music comes from an honest place and the themes N.W.A. rapped about where exactly that, a product of the time and place in which they came from. That honesty resonated with millions of kids and struck fear into millions of parents thinking this music was a bad influence on their impressionable young children. Being controversial is an understatement, their music was filled with profanity and roused the ire of law enforcement agencies across the world... but it was what's between the lines that made N.W.A. such powerful voices of an angry generation. "Straight Outta Compton" chronicles their rise and fall. Universal's plot synopsis reads as such: In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, "Straight Outta Compton" tells the true story of how these cultural rebels-armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent-stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world's most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today. On the surface "Straight Outta Compton" is a by-the-number music biopic. The usual checklist items are here: coming from a hard life, discovering raw talent, meteoric and sudden rise to fame, then comes the excess - money, drugs, booze, women, fast cars, jail time, etc. As far as movies about musicians go this one doesn't really tread any new ground. Despite this, however, are a series of impressive performances from novice actors, well staged music and a high paced style keeps it mostly fresh. The core group that make up N.W.A. are Ice Cube (played by the real rapper's son O'Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), all relative newcomers but all deliver serviceable turns in their respective roles, the chemistry between these guys is immediately evident and thus lends a certain authenticity to the film with O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Jason Mitchell being the clear standouts. It's amazing how much Jackson Jr. looks like his famous father and he's nailed down the mannerisms. Mitchell is perfectly cast as Eazy-E, he brings the anger, the angst, and resentment to the screen in an electrifying way. These young performers are anchored by veteran Paul Giamatti who plays they groups manager Jerry Heller who is credited with both their immediate success and their ultimate demise and disbanding. Giamatti does the usual sleazy music producer/manager thing and remains convincing. The film's themes are pretty evident - it's a voice against discrimination, a voice for freedom of speech but also a cautionary tale of excess, greed, and self destruction. The music is harsh and to the point, after all that was what N.W.A. where best at. There was some controversy upon the film's theatrical release that some aspects of the group and their personal lives where glossed over - the real MC Ren took offence to not being featured in the movie enough when the trailers started rolling out, founding member Arabian Prince's contributions where omitted, Dr. Dre's abusive relation with former girlfriend was also not featured, among other things. Fact of the matter is, this is a movie, not everything can be covered and at the end of the day nothing is ever an accurate retelling, it's a mix of fantasy and reality. Even after the release of the film, controversy seems to follow the filmmakers, Jerry Heller sued the studio and filmmakers, and the film was also caught in the middle of the recent #OscarsSoWhite frenzy with the film's only nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category. It was included with a handful of other films prominently featuring black actors that were ignored from this year's crop of nominees. While I certainly think the film deserves it's writing nod, I don't know if it could be classified as one of the years' best films? It was certainly entertaining, even if you don't particularly listen to rap. I will say that it was snubbed in several technical categories such as editing, sound mixing and sound editing. Overall "Straight Outta Compton" is a fairly standard biopic, for the most part it's entertaining and features solid performances from a relatively young cast. Director F. Gary Gray delivers his best film, especially when you considered his full filmography. This blu-ray release includes both the original Theatrical cut and an extended Director's cut version of the film.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 high definition 1080p 24/fps mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The image looks terrific, nice and sharp with balanced colors, deep blacks and overall clean transfer. There are no flaws to this transfer. Depth looks good, textures are fine, and I couldn't detect any compression noise or other issues related to HD compression and mastering. Overall solid effort from Universal.
Audio
Four audio track are included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround (48kHz/24-bit) as well as French DTS 5.1 surround, Spanish DTS 5.1 surround and an English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English DTS-HD 5.1 audio, the audio is impressive, the real treat here is the bombastic music-based soundtrack, which delivers, the rap is loud and furious, the concert scenes are layered well and make excellent use of the surround channels. The audio depth here is impressive. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French, and Spanish.
Extras
Universal has released this film with both edits of the film, the original Theatrical cut and an extended Director's cut, the supplements feature an audio commentary, deleted scenes, deleted song performances, six featurettes, bonus trailers, a digital copy version of the film, and a DVD copy of the film on a second disc. Below is a closer look at these extras. DISC ONE First up is a feature-length audio commentary with director/producer F. Gary Gray. Both cuts of the film feature this track, with the Director's cut obviously getting a few extra comments here and there to cover the extended aspects of the film. The track is a fairly well produced affair, Gray comments on the development of the project, the controversy surrounding the group, on working with the actors and also covers the various difference between the the two cuts on this disc. It's a solid track worth listening to. Next are a collection of six deleted scenes (1080p) which could be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option, upon viewing them it's obvious why these scenes where cut, either for time or simply they didn't progress the story. The scenes included are: - "Into the Recording Studio" which runs for 16 seconds. - "Funeral" which runs for 21 seconds. - "Pasadena City Jail" which runs for 26 seconds. - "Nicole Visits Dre" which runs for 2 minutes 38 seconds. - "Reunited" which runs for 1 minute 23 seconds. - "Dre Gets a Call" which runs for 36 seconds. Following that is a deleted song performance (1080) which runs for 1 minute 28 seconds, this is a concert clip from the film in which the group raps the song "Compton's 'N the House" to a live crowd. "N.W.A: The Origins" is the first of six featurettes (1080p) which runs for 3 minutes 49 seconds, this clip takes a look at how the group started out. "Impact" featurette (1080p) runs for 1 minute 35 seconds, this brief clip covers the impact the group had on popular culture, as members of the group discuss their legacy. "Director's Journey" featurette (1080p) runs for 3 minutes 22 seconds, in this clip the director takes us through the filming of the L.A. riots scene. "The Streets: Filming in Compton" featurette (1080p) runs for 6 minutes 3 seconds, for authenticity's sake the filmmakers filmed segments of this biopic on location in Compton, this clip takes a look at this process. "N.W.A Performs in Detroit" featurette (1080p) runs for 4 minutes 54 seconds, takes a look at the time when the group was arrested while performing in Detroit. This clip also takes a look at the filming of that sequence in the film. The final featurette is "Becoming N.W.A" (1080p) which runs for 8 minutes 30 seconds, real members of the group reminisce on their history and iconic standing in music. The disc also features a collection of bonus trailers (1080p) for: - "Straight Outta Compton" soundtrack - "Jarhead 3: The Siege" - "Everest" - "Steve Jobs" - "Race" - "Legend" DISC TWO (DVD Copy) This is a DVD copy version of the film. Also included in the package is a code for a digital copy version of the film.
Packaging
Packaged in a 2-disc blu-ray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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