Straight Outta Compton (16) ****
The great victory of director F Gary Gray’s NWA biopic is how it puts the music in its social context. The reasons the group were moved to create the angry rap they did is brilliantly realised, but they quickly become corrupted and violent when fame calls and the film doesn’t shy away from portraying this either.
We’re given two strong stories for the price of one. The first shows how the young rappers become accidental activists when the music – which we’re told was originally just for them and their friends – gives voice to a much maligned generation.
Opening in the LA suburb of Compton in the 1980s, one of the most dangerous regions in the country at that time, the movie charts a growing anger at five young rappers who respond to aggressive authority by the police force.
Their music hits a nerve and it’s not before the group, including Eazy-E (Mitchell), Dr Dre (Hawkins) and Ice Cube (played impressively by his real-life son, Jackson Jr) is drawing a fan base – and making the law-makers edgy. An extended sequence climaxing in the recording of one of their biggest anthems, F*** the Police, puts the song finely into context.
Later, the film becomes a cautionary tale about the music industry and how its power can corrupt.
Like a great gangster rap record, Straight Outta Compton is edgy, energetic and by no means short of humour.
We Are Your Friends (15A) ***
Zac Efron is easily the best thing about this drama set in the world of the Hollywood elite. It’s a shame the characters that inhabit the film are so shallow, it’s difficult to invest in or care about.
He plays Cole, an aspiring 23-year-old DJ with a talent for building sound. Along with his friends, he lives on the ‘wrong side’ of the valley and dreams of making it big by developing that one anthem that will make him a success.
His hopes are raised when he meets a charming but troubled top DJ, James (Wes Bentley), who takes a liking to the younger man and starts to foster his talent.
They develop a friendship but that is threatened when Cole secretly takes a shine to James’s girlfriend and assistant, the exotic Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski). Cole becomes torn between loyalty to new friends and old, and his passion for this new woman.
It’s a story that is decently told and the cast do a fine job at building up the dramatic tension. Yet because there is something so inherently hollow about these characters’ lifestyles, it’s not easy to really care about what happens to them.
Still, Efron and Bentley make for good company and give the film and their characters some sort of sincerity.
