Review of Get on Up (2014) by Reel H — 26 May 2017

A movie on the great James Brown, the Godfather of Soul and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. We see his life, from boyhood, to initial steps as an entertainer, to success and later life.

Great biopic. Directed by Tate Taylor, who directed The Help, and starring Chadwick Boseman (who played Jackie Robinson in 42) as James Brown, this is an entertaining, absorbing look into the life of one of the greatest stars of the 20th century, a man who created a genre of music (funk) and influenced several others.

Excellent performance by Chadwick Boseman in the lead role. Very convincing, capturing incredibly well the energy, swagger and determination of James Brown, plus his on-stage theatrics.

The film's hairstylist and make-up artist deserve heaps of credit too, considering the (quite accurate) transformations they put Boseman through.

Part of what makes the movie so great is the music, and the live performances to go with it. Very well done.

Not perfect though. Starts pretty disjointedly and non-engagingly. Takes a while to get into the movie (but once you do it is a great journey). Even once it does get going, there is still a degree of roughness around the edges. Tate Taylor seems to paint with broad brushes, as the smaller detail sometimes seems overlooked or bent for dramatic purposes.

Comparisons with Ray and Walk The Line are in order, and Get On Up is not quite up to the standard of those two movies, largely for the reasons mentioned above.

This all said, a great movie.