 |
| Director
: |
James Mangold
|
| Starring
: |
Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon |
|
| The plot of
Walk the Line |
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's
life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton
farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis,
where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley and
Jerry Lee Lewis. |
Walk the
Line Movie Review
|
Review by Todd
McCarthy:
Walk the Line"
is a strongly acted, musically vibrant, conventionally
satisfying biopic of country/rock/blues legend Johnny
Cash and his second wife, June Carter. Absorbing and
entertaining, James Mangold's heartfelt feature follows
the predictable format for musical bios, encompassing
popular singers' performance highs and drug-addled lows,
and could have benefited from a rougher edge in line
with the main subject's outlaw image. Already being
pushed as this year's "Ray," Fox release can
look forward to swaggering B.O. generally, especially
from Middle America.It's an exceptional time for biographical
performances in Hollywood films, what with Philip Seymour
Hoffman in "Capote" and David Strathairn in
"Good Night, and Good Luck" already stirring
major pre-release excitement. Add to those the lead
turns in "Walk the Line." Reese Witherspoon
does a sensational job as lifelong performer June Carter,
while Joaquin Phoenix gains in conviction as pic builds
to put over a very credible Johnny Cash. Their surprisingly
good vocal perfs on the many well-known songs are icing
on the cake..more..
Review By Jason
Anderson:
Starring Joaquin Phoenix,
Reese Witherspoon. Written by Gill Dennis, James Mangold.
Directed by James Mangold. (PG) 135 min. Opens Nov 18.For
a movie about a man who sang so long and so well about
sin, guilt and divine retribution, it's not a little
bizarre that Walk the Line only satisfies as a movie
romance. Thanks to the long-simmering tension between
Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and future wife June Carter
(Reese Witherspoon) as each of these country-music legends
wends through the '50s and '60s, there's some much-needed
lust in the film's heart.But as a biopic, Walk the Line
is riddled with familiar problems. Director James Mangold's
movie is based largely on Johnny Cash's own frank memoirs
so the issue is not that Mangold whitewashes the story
of the Man in Black. Instead, he relies on the hoariest
kind of movie vocabulary to tell the tale. From the
badly reductive pop psychology that roots our hero's
troubles in a childhood trauma (like Ray Charles, Cashlost
a cherished brother at an early age) to the cheeseball
montages that summarize career highlights for the hard
of thinking, Walk the Line has got it all and a young
Elvis (Tyler Hilton) drawling lines like "Want
some chili fries?"..More..
|
