OVERVIEW: Follow the world's most dangerous group, N.W.A. as they forge their anger and inner-city frustrations into the most potent weapon imaginable: their music. In Straight Outta Compton: Unrated Director's Cut fans can follow N.W.A.'s electrifying lyrics and unique sound, which introduced a truth that no one had heard before and exposed life in the hood igniting a social revolution that still reverberates today. The culturally relevant and explosively entertaining biopic is coming to Digital HD on January 5, 2016 and Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand January 19, 2016 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The Blu-ray™ and Digital HD versions include the exclusive Unrated Director's Cut that gives fans more of the N.W.A. story with 20 additional minutes of the film. Directed by F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Friday), Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of five young rebels from South Central Los Angeles who, armed with only their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent, stood up to the authorities attempting to keep them down.

SYNOPSIS: Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how five young 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.

FILM REVIEW: The greatest story ever told by the “Generation X” hip hop Moguls of our day. Coupled with a well-written script by relative newcomer Andrea Berloff, Straight Outta Compton weaves together the politics of the time (Many of us remember Reaganomics and the 1992 Los Angeles uprisings), the energy of a generation, and the story of discarded youth whose voices forever changed the landscape of hip-hop.

Additionally, what a great cast assembled here!!! Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr. and Aldis Hodge play Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and MC Ren, respectively. 24-year-old O’Shea Jackson Jr. is tasked with portraying his father, legendary rapper Ice Cube whilst making his acting debut in this flick about the iconic rap group N.W.A. He not only rises to the challenge, but he far exceeds expectations on every level. It’s his uncanny ability to embody his father, from his presence to his facial quirks that gives the film its extra oomph. Paul Giamatti has a sort of weird role as the band’s manager, Jerry Heller, who’s often utilized for comedic relief but later becomes the guy everyone loathes.

Part of the appeal of this flick is that it’s not only reliving the memorable pop-culture moments but also seeing the humanity of the characters, who are often regarded as one-dimensional thugs who made it big by glamorizing violence and spouting misogynistic lyrics.

Straight Outta Compton is certainly not a short movie and it has somewhat of a hard time sustaining its blistering momentum from the first half. However, the first half is such a crowd pleaser, that the film earned enough goodwill to sustain itself through the end of a movie. So be warned, yes, it does drag at times. Regardless, if you care about the characters or the genre at all, Straight Outta Compton will make you happy in a reminiscent type of way, if nothing else. It’s just so great to see all of these characters and their stories on the big screen.

Despite a few drawbacks, Straight Outta Compton is still an amazing flick that captures a tumultuous period of time (not very different from the lives of African-Americans and other minorities’ struggles today), and the birth of a movement that has changed the course of hip-hop music and culture forever. Five out of five stars would be a fair assessment here and certainly this is well worth the theater visit with popcorn in tow.

BLU-RAY: The film is presented in widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English, French  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.40:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1/Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish DTS Surround 5.1, French DTS Surround 5.1

Subtitles - English SDH, Spanish and French

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Blu-ray™ unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.

DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing movies in more places, both at home and away.

DIGITAL HD with UltraViolet™ lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly stream or download.

DELETED SCENES BECOMING N.W.A. – An in-depth look at how the producers and F. Gary Gray tackled the challenging task of casting these larger than life creators of gangster rap.

N.W.A. THE ORIGINS – N.W.A. was a group that changed history. Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and many others talk about their start in the 80's and where it all began.

IMPACT – An exploration of the impactN.W.A. and specifically their breakout album that changed everything.

DIRECTOR'S JOURNEY – Utilizing a large amount of stand up interviews, we follow F. Gary Gray through the streets of Compton as he brings together the story of the founders of gangsta rap.

THE STREETS: FILMING IN COMPTON – Take a look through the lens of Director F. Gary Gray as he perfected the authentic feeling of what it was like to walk the streets of Compton.

N.W.A PERFORMS IN DETROIT – We go behind the scenes of what this performance meant to the original members of N.W.A. as they saw their lyrics spark controversy against the corruption of the police in Los Angeles, as well as the thoughts of the actors performing the song on stage for the movie.