Straight up, my gut feeling after watching 'Straight Outta Compton' was that it was a little underwhelming. I can't however pinpoint why I felt underwhelmed, I have a few ideas but I can also see how and why SOC has already smashed all sorts of records across America because I felt the hype.

The film itself is over 2 hours long, which is odd as I thought that a lot of the key moments in the formation of N.W.A and Deathrow Records were breezed over without much detail. SOC moves fast, rapidly in fact, which was most evident when Dr Dre's younger brother passes away and then when the D.O.C. has his rap-career-ending car crash. Both events in the film have suitable build as we are constantly reminded of Dre's love for his younger brother right from the start and we get bits and pieces of D.O.C., but when these moments go down, the characters swiftly move on and jump into the next situation, of which there are plenty.

Those with a loose knowledge of N.W.A. and the whole 90's west coast era, will probably enjoy the film as it gives a basic overview of how N.W.A. was formed, what they then had to deal with, and what issues drove them apart, with Ice Cube departing and then Dr Dre leaving and the subsequent death of Eazy-E. In that sense, SOC does a nice job of moving quickly from event to event in the film but from my perspective - as someone who's dream it is to go back in time and be a fly on the wall in studio sessions from the Deathrow era - it does a poor job of really digging deeper and doesn't give those with even an average knowledge of that era much to really, thoroughly enjoy.

I have always been intrigued by D.O.C. as he's the man behind the scenes of this great dynasty (to use a common sporting term) since he dropped 'No One Can Do It Better' and then turned into one of the greatest ghostwriters ever. It's safe to say that D.O.C. was a key part in the success of N.W.A and then Deathrow records but his part in SOC is restricted to being 'in the cut' and getting minimal talking parts despite writing a decent chunk of N.W.A's songs when Ice Cube left the group.

The role that Dr Dre and Ice Cube have played in getting this film done and then marketing it - which is part of the reason why the hype has been so cray cray as Dre and Cube are two of the most legit OG's in the music industry right now - is clearly evident in the film itself.

SOC obviously zones in on Eazy-E and the role he played in getting N.W.A. set up, which was highly refreshing as my 24 years on this planet only included Eazy-E for a small amount of time. For those of us who weren't old enough to be balls-deep in music at this stage of the 90's, we get solid insight into Eazy's character and persona. My perception of Eazy comes from the music that he churned out, which fitted his 'Ruthless' record label name but SOC shows Eazy as somewhat of a naive character while also giving us a brief glimpse at what his life was like before N.W.A. That didn't involve music and Eazy was just a straight up hustler, but once again this was all too brief and things quickly jumped from Eazy escaping when 'one-time' busted a trap house he was in to all of a sudden he's in a rap group learning how to rap.

I would have liked to have learned a bit more about the characters, especially Eazy, MC Ren and DJ Yella. A little background, how they came to be in that position etc which we got tiny amounts of with Eazy and next to none with Ren and Yella.

Personally, I believe that this is the most underwhelming factor of SOC: It blatantly comes from the perspective of Dre and Cube. They are both listed as producers and the general plot of SOC follows their characters around the most. This includes scenes which they probably felt were important, but in the big scheme of things only contributed to this fast-moving beast that overlooked other intriguing aspects. One example that stands out at the start of the film sees Cube's school bus confronted by a few Bloods after a silly bugger threw a few C's up from the bus window. We all know that Compton's ruthless and we saw many examples of how volatile in can be throughout the film, but here all we got was a waste of a scene.

Dre and Cube's perspective was also clear on N.W.A.'s manager and Jerry Heller, who was the main reason why Dre and Cube both left. Heller and Eazy were close, with Eazy not quite seeing the light until it was too late that Heller was more about filling his own pockets before he was with those of the group. While history hints at Heller being a shady bloke (there have even been a few conspiracies that blame him for Eazy's death), there are two sides to every story and we definitely don't get Heller's side because he obviously had zero influence in the film.

It's important to note that Eazy's former wife, Tomica Woods-Wright, is also a producer, which ensures that Eazy is a star of the film - rightfully so. There does, however, appear to be a lot of effort put into showing how Cube and Dre made amends with Eazy, which I don't doubt happened but the slightly overboard nature of it does feel a little corny.

Sidenote - Woods-Wright is a key figure in this film as she holds the rights to Eazy's music so Dre and Cube needed to have her on-board to be able to feature Eazy's stuff in the film. Part of getting Woods-Wright in on the action would have been ensuring that Eazy was portrayed in a largely positive light and that his legacy isn't tarnished in any shape of form.

Standing alone as the best thing about SOC is the way that police are portrayed. Even this becomes a bit tiresome though, as there are numerous scenes of police abusing their power, too many in my eyes and I would have rather the film spent more time on the different characters/low-key events of this time than on the police just being dicks again. However, this is a hard-hitting (and timely) theme in the film because it causes you to ask yourself: Has anything has actually changed in America?

From the film (and general music history) we know the role that N.W.A. played in highlighting silly policemen and their silly antics. This was in the early 90's, yet here we are in 2015 and there is a new insane act of police brutality put in the spotlight every day - nothing has changed and that's borderline disgusting.

Things do get awkward in the second half of the film when Deathrow Records and Suge Knight (who is portrayed in a horrible way, possibly rightfully so) start to enter the picture, which is followed (again, extremely quickly) by Dre setting up Aftermath. It's tricky because there's Dre's path, Cube's path and Eazy's path that all need a bit of screen time and that can leave everything on the periphery of these characters getting only minimal attention. The arrival of Snoop Dogg (which also features the only scene of who I believe is Warren G - Dre's younger step-brother) is brushed over, as an example, because there is so much to work through in the final portion of the film. It all gets a bit mumbo-jumbo and then ends with Eazy's unfortunate passing.

This film was always going to be successful because hip hop's heavyweights have been integral in the marketing of it. Straight Outta Compton cashes in on the star-power of Dre and Cube as their characters get plenty of screen-time, along with a healthy dose of Eazy-E, but as the viewer is taken on two tangents following Dre and Cube, we are left without enough actual N.W.A.. Scenes involving Dre and Cube take up time, which means that other intriguing characters and events simply don't get enough credit. Time that could have better been spent getting deeper into the make-up of N.W.A and even the issues that they were faced with as their stardom grew.

Personally, I believe that it's highly unfortunate that a film about a group such as N.W.A., who were nothing less than revolutionary, is hindered by the commercial realities of Hollywood. Their music was anti-radio, anti-mainstream and just a general 'fuck you' to anyone who didn't like it, but Straight Outta Compton has been made to cater to the masses, clearly designed to be a mainstream success.