A movie of one dimensional look, sound and fury, Straight Outta Compton is a disingenuous biopic that takes dramatic license to a whole new low.

In the history of movie biopics, Straight Outta Compton is a film that takes on the notion that truth is simply a matter of opinion.

Now let’s be clear: the majority of biopics walk a fine line between what’s true and what is “creative licence”. Yet Straight Outta Compton constantly has its foot in the latter, resulting in a hip-hop propaganda film complete with the type of shoddy filmmaking that comes with such a thing.

Straight Outta Compton tells the story of influential hip-hop group N.W.A. (an abbreviation for N***** with Attitudes) in “their own words”. That right there is a hint and a half on the lack of objectivity featured throughout this inner-circle project, produced by N.W.A. founding members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, and directed by long-time Ice Cube cohort F. Gary Gray.

Instead of representing a whole story, what we get is an almost mythic fable of ghetto saints crusading against injustice in the streets of Los Angeles. Its structure is simple: Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) whines about the need for a change in hip-hop; the group encounters police brutality; Ice-Cube (portrayed by his son O’Shea Jackson Jr) writes lyrics about it; Easy-E (another founding member and drug pusher portrayed by Jason Mitchell) proclaims “yo, this is dope!”; a monster hit is recorded and released to an unsuspecting public who eat up its misogyny, violence and police hatred.

Add a scheming manager in Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti), a violent thug posing as a manager in Suge Knight (R. Marcos Taylor), and disingenuous commentary on censorship and police violence, and you have yourself Straight Outta Compton.

What is missing - outside of the truth - is depth. Gray (whose best feature film to date still remains the urban stoner comedy Friday) made his calling with hip-hop videos, and Straight Outta Compton is very much an extended version: stylish, yet all posturing with no humanity; an exercise in brand control by those who have no interest in exposing their faults.

This leads to bland characters in turn blandly portrayed by its actors. When a vital character dies, the reaction is no more than the shrug of a shoulder since he has not warranted an emotional investment.

The key to the best music biopics – Ray, Walk the Line, Sid & Nancy – is their willingness and allowance to portray their protagonists, as, well, assholes. For all of its macho posturing, Straight Outta Compton does not have the balls to do that.

Take Dr. Dre for example. The film rightly portrays him as an innovator and revolutionary leader in hip-hop. What it fails to do is even acknowledge the multiple times Dre has physically abused women. Ice Cube has transformed himself into a renaissance man of movie and music. Yet nowhere does Straight Outta Compton approach the issue that the man who wrote some of the most misogynist lyrics in popular music is now himself a father of two daughters.

When the hypocrisy of the preach in Straight Outta Compton was brought to Gray’s attention, he rebuked by stating that the only discussion the film should evoke is the very important issue of police violence against African-American men.

Bullshit. While exploiting such an important issue in order to cover up the heinous crimes of hypocrites may work for Gray, Dre, Ice Cube and the rest associated with Straight Outta Compton, it should be seen by everyone else for what it is: disingenuous whitewashing of the worst kind, that’s pathetic, maddening and sad.