Straight Outta Compton is Emotional and Engaging; Hitman: Agent 47 Has Cool Action, That's About It

   
    When it comes to biopics, I've found that they can be either REALLY good or REALLY boring, like slightly-more-interesting documentaries. It's an interesting genre to tackle I think, within the medium of film. My wife and I watched "Straight Outta Compton" this week and let me tell you, it was an experience like I've never had with another biopic. I'm not saying that it's, like, the greatest movie ever made. What I mean is that I was equal parts entertained, educated, and moved on an emotional level, which (in my mind) separated Straight Outta Compton slightly apart from other great biopics that I've seen, which manages to do one or two of those things. On a personal level, I couldn't have been more disconnected from the source material from this movie, which I think lends itself to my overall reaction. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching this film.

   The movie chronicles the rise of famed music group NWA starting in the early 80s. Five young men, using relentlessly honest lyrics and hardcore, crowd-pleasing beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella-armed only with their personal experiences melded into lyrics, their swagger, and raw talent-stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world's most dangerous group, NWA. 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.

   Like I said, on a personal level I had no connection really to this film other than knowing who Ice Cube was. I'm just a nerdy white guy who grew up in a house that listened to Michael Jackson, The Carpenters, Chicago, Earth Wind and Fire, The Beatles, and many more. Hardcore rap was nowhere to be found in my childhood home, nor did I really gain any attraction to that specific genre of music as I grew up. Now, this movie didn't cause a miraculous change within me, causing me to hit the iTunes store hard in downloading every NWA album or anything. But it did for me what I think the movie set out to do for anyone who sees it, fans of the group or not. It made me more aware of the cultural struggle these five men dealt with growing up, it showed that the songs they wrote came from a very visceral, raw place, and it entertained the crap outta me. It's got heart, comedy, and a ton of emotion.

   The acting in the movie was really well done. The cast all around was engaging, funny, and profound. Every cast member of the NWA could have been a leading man, but they really pulled off the group mentality. Paul Giamatti, who plays the group's manager, was really good, too. No surprise there. The story is equally engaging. With biopics the main focus, I feel, is to educate and then entertain. There are a lot of instances and moments in the film that are startling and demoralizing. As the group becomes more famous they partake in the "spoils" of fame, i.e. sleeping with any girl that walks by, getting drunk, throwing insane parties, and living it up to the fullest. Some of these scenes are very visceral and can seem off-putting, but I feel their necessary because the film does a great job at showing how fame and fortune can be a cause for discord, disconnect, and in the case of one member, life-threatening.

   Fans of the group I feel will enjoy this movie simply based on the nostalgia alone. My wife, case in point, was singing along to some of the songs which she knew growing up, giving her a different experience overall than I. That's the beauty of the cinema in general. With Straight Outta Compton you get a very raw, very strong presentation of one group's story about how they battled the stereotypical stigmas we still see today. Did they go about fighting those stigmas the right way? Was their music influential? Or hostile? In my mind it's all art, and art is meant to be interpreted on an individual level; no matter what the artist is trying to get across, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Having no background with this music, I'm coming from the point of view of the quality of the film as a film, and this movie is a great representation of how a biopic can be more than just a glorified Hollywood documentary.

   The idea of making video games into movies is an intriguing one. Most of the film adaptations of video games really aren't that great. Some come close in capturing the essence of the stroylines and characters, but ultimately video games are such a vast source of material that it would be difficult to obtain a worthy interpretation. "Hitman: Agent 47" is the second Hitman movie, and though I have never played the games, the movie itself wasn't too bad.

   Rupert Friend plays Agent 47, an elite assassin who was genetically engineered from birth to be the perfect killing machine. Like product from a factory, he is known only by the last two digits on the bar code tattooed on the back of his neck. He has unprecedented strength, speed, stamina and intelligence. In this film, he targets a corporation that plans to unlock the secret of  past in order to create an army of assassins more powerful than even him. He teams up with a woman who may hold the secret to overcoming their powerful and clandestine enemies.

   The only thing that makes this movie worth watch is the intense action sequences. 47 dismantles every enemy using a range of tactics and weapons spanning from guns, to piano wire, to airplane engines and so on. You name it, he used it to kill someone. There is no point in the film where any of the action makes much sense, nor will you find that you'll care. It's just plain fun. In a world where cloned assassins run rampant and corporations are vying for power over them, you can't help but to expect that the "no-holds-bar" approach is the way to go.

   There are subtleties to the characters that are interesting to watch. 47's motives stay somewhat consistent and the character arcs (what little there is) do, in fact, arc. It's just silly. Where Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an intelligent action movie, Agent 47 is a silly one. If you're looking for a movie to see that doesn't require any thinking or a ton of emotional investment, but is just pure fun, then go see this.