Director: F. Gary Gray
Running Time: 147/164 mins
Certificate: 18
Release Date: January 11th 2016 (UK)
Oftentimes having the subject of a biopic involved in the production ends up watering it down to the point it’s completely neutered. However, we should have probably guessed that wouldn’t have been too much of a problem for the members of NWA, who made their name by being honest about their lives and the world that they came from.
Even so, it’s taken a long time to get the project off the ground, and even just before it arrived, some wondered whether the subject matter would have genuinely wide appeal. However, with a great critical reaction and a gross of $160 million just in the US, it certainly defied expectations. It undoubtedly helped as well that the film arrived just at the right moment too, as the Black Lives Matter movement was rising and distrust of US law enforcement made the message of songs like ‘Fuck tha Police’ seem as timely as when they were first written. [Read more…]
We will all be able to find out more about the history of that hippity hop the kids are into these days, as Straight Outta Compton, a biopic of genre pioneers NWA is on its way and now we’ve got a set of posters and a trailer.