Review of Get on Up

Get on Up is a very interesting biopic about the life of the Godfather of Soul, R&B singer James Brown. Produce by Mick Jagger of Rolling Stones fame, directed by Tate Taylor, and written by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, the movie chronicles James Brown's (Chadwick Boseman) rise from impoverished youth to his evolution of becoming one of the most influential musicians in history. While the movie's pretty good, it's does have a lot of tiresome clichés of a musical biopic, such as the humble beginnings, the rise to stardom, the style changes, the substance abuse, the domestic troubles, the traumatic fall and the eventual redemption. The movie really doesn't stand out for the rest of them. Another thing is that this movie's flashbacks are confusing at times that it hurts the pacing a bit. I think the movie does very well on captured the decades, it wants to portray, with the great costumes and locations, they used. It's all well shot, in my opinion. The 1930s scenes had this all dark and depressing moods tone to it; while the 1960s seem to brighten up the day. Still, the flashbacks were just constant jumping with the editing, that cause seriously impaired transitions. At 2 hours and 18 minutes, the movie does glosses over entire decades of Brown's life. It's doesn't bother, telling what happen to Brown in the 2000s nor the 1990s. It's even rarely talks about his time in the 1970s or the 1980s. Anyways, the acting is pretty good. Boseman is a black man bio pic dream, as he was great as Jackie Robinson in 2013's 42, and now great as James Brown. He really get into these bio pic roles, in which he nails everything from the soul singer's vocal mannerisms to his liquid dance moves. Some faults of his performance, could be that you can't heard half of he's saying due to a lot of mumbling and random screaming in the background soundtrack. Plus, he's lip-synching all those classic hits, not singing. The older make up wasn't half bad, but some of the wigs, he used are just outrageous funny looking and he looks way goofy in later aged scenes. Once in a while, the actor would look into the camera and speak directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall, making it awkward to watch half of the time, as it never explain who, he talking to. It felt like an unfunny clown trying to do a seriously mind breaking joke. I know they wanted to do something new with biopic films, but this break the fourth wall idea didn't get flesh out enough. The movie has a lot of great supporting cast such as Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer to support him. One character actor that stood out, is Nelson Ellis as Bobby Byrd, a member of James Brown crew and best friend. I see big things for Nelson Ellis future. The accuracy of the film is a bit questionable, but they didn't stray too far from the facts. They did make Aunt Honey (Octavia Spencer) way into too much of an angel in the life. When in truth, she was just as abusive to him as his real parents. With Byrd, he wasn't always so loyal to Brown. The movie downplays, the fact that Byrd had some success as a solo artist, and Brown was the one, wanting him back. Without spoiling it, the script took some liberties and includes at least one scene involving fabricated incidents. Most of James Brown's funk hits are in the film, but not all of them are fresh out and performed. Some of them, only get minor mention. For a movie chronicling the life of James Brown, it doesn't make sense for the film to be rated PG-13, but I can understand why the producers did, so they can get as much viewers as possible. Still, some of the most-juiciest controversial things about James Brown's life seem to be missing or down played. The history of domestic abuses are cut down to one disturbing slapping scene. There is a big different in hitting his wife with a lead pipe and shooting at her in their car during an argument, in which the real James Brown allegedly did, and one random slapping scene. Even the years of drug abuse in the 1980s is cut to one scene. It seem to come out of nowhere in this film, as it never mention, how he got hooked on PCP. It just comes and goes. Even his legal troubles get cut down to a few scenes. They never explain, how he got out of jail after the car chase in 1988. The movie just expect you to know. It never tries hard to give good exposition. I guess, the movie doesn't feel the need to explain, those actions. I guess the producers felt like painting James Brown in the film, a better light, to get the fans to go see this movie. It's very understandable. About the racism portray in the film. Yes, there were a few racist minor white characters, but at less they didn't make all the whites look like racists. Still, there were few racist attitudes that James Brown said about some whites that was a bit harsh, played for laughs. I wouldn't say the movie was forcing white guilt on anybody or forcing blacks to hate whites. Yes, there is a lot of black stories movies that love pushing the race card that it over sanitize black cinema, but I didn't felt that this movie did it. It didn't push the racial barriers film, to the point that it can only, be watch by black audiences members. I can see anybody watching this film, no matter what color skin, he or she has. Overall: it's a movie worth the watch, even if it's a bit disjointed.