I Walk The Line

Ok. Went to see it last night and frankly didn't rate it. The "on stage" bits were very good indeed - Joaquin Phoenix impersonation of Cash playing was really something else BUT the rest of it was quite frankly not that great. Every character in it was a two dimensional cardboard cutout, you never got any real idea why anyone in it did what they did, loads of stuff just missing. If you went in hoping for any kind of insight at all, you came out none the wiser. If it weren't for the great music and that remarkable impersonation - it'd be straight to video.

 

That's a bit harsh! OK it's not 'Citizen Kane', but I found it a perfectly acceptable way to spend a couple of hours in the cinema, see two great acting performances and listen to some good music.

 

Yeah have to say I disagree with Uncle A on this one. I thought JC's relationship with his father (set up in the first 10 mins) held the key for the rest of the film and indeed JC's life up to the end of the 60's.

....and its got Reese Witherspoon so there!!

Cheers

Rich

 

Maybe I was being a bit harsh, but that thing about his Dad - That's sort of my point about shallow characterisation.

The film was over 2 hours long and to summarise its spent two hours in which to say "Johnny Cash was a f**cked up drug fiend because he had a mean Dad and lost his brother, he was mean to his whingy wife, fell in love with someone else, who helped him unscrew himself and he played a concert in a prison, and his Dad was still mean".

Hey don't get me wrong. I've been a fan of Johnny Cash since I was a teenager. I really think he was a great person (albeit with a real mean side to him). But this film is a big cheeseball (with some great music, its true).

 

That pretty much sums up his autobiography in one sentence!

I thought it was as close to the mark as you could possibly get in a couple of hours, given that you have to make a film entertaining.

 

Well yes, except that if you believe the film, he was nothing but a speed and booze freak who couldn't get it together - and yet he made a string of great albums from 1960 right up to and including Folsom and San Quentin. There's a lot more to the man y'know.

 

Yep....this is my post from the Now Showing thread..

Went to watch Walk The Line at the weekend. The Johnny Cash 'biopic'. Must say I was a little bit dissapointed. Positives first: The acting and singing was great. Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix were both excellent and its scary at some points how accurate Phoenix is. You catch yourself squinting at the screen wondering if it really is Johnny Cash. He really has him down.

Anyway its hard to put my finger on why I didn't like it. I think the problem was the film wasn't that well done. Just seemed to go on a bit and wasn't done with that much imagination really. For such a great character they didn't make much of him. I think maybe I'll read his autobiography for a better insight.

Worth watching for the lead performances which are excellent but they don't quite carry the film enough to make it great.

 

I enjoyed it

 

I also enjoyed it but pretty much agree with Uncle Ants - the on-stage bits were electrifying, the rest less so. I thought RW was suberb and thoroughly deserved her Oscar, but maybe Joaquin didn't quite do justice to Cash off stage. He came across as a bit dim at times, and its hard to see how the character as portrayed could have achieved all the things he did. Definitely worth a couple of hours of my time though, and prompted me to watch the 'Hurt' video again with a tear in my eye to see the other end of the story.

Cheers

Gordon

 

I quite enjoyed it, and so did Wife, but agree that it was a good film rather than a great one.

What's Love Got to Do with It for example realy dragged you into the charictors lives, uncomfortable as it was at times.

Walk The Line possibly suffered with its (12A?) rating, drug and marriage problems are rarely that sanitised.