Walk the Line

Hello All! Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many posting sessions on They Might Be Critics. For tonight’s critique I have chosen a biopic called Walk The Line. For those unfamiliar with this movie, this is the biography of late singer Johnny Cash. This movie follows his rise, his first marriage, his struggle with drugs, and finally his overcoming substance abuse and getting a second chance.
First things first, on a scale of -22 to 22, I gave this movie a 17. Overall, this was a wonderful, enjoyable film. One thing that tends to happen with biopics is that the film can tend to drag. That did not happen with this film. There are a few reasons as to why I believe this happened. First, the story did not lend itself to dragging, because it was broken up by music. Secondly, the acting in this film was phenomenal.
The story of Johnny Cash is not a boring one. His life was filled with interesting events and numerous musical endeavors (at least enough to keep me interested), such as being abroad while in the Air Force, meeting people he had always dreamed of meeting. However, while I did feel like I was watching the movie Ray only with a white musician (as was pointed out by Jon Stewart at the Oscars), I quickly got over that fact and was able to get lost in the story and the music. Throughout the movie I found myself rooting for Johnny and also wanting to hit him, simultaneously at some points. He did have challenges as most people do, and he also had periods of destruction toward himself and those around him.
This feeling of wanting to clap for and hit the main character at the same time was something that made me very interested in the movie. I wanted to see which feeling would win. However, I do not think this feeling would have occurred had it not been for the wonderful acting of Joaquin Phoenix. After watching the movie for a relatively brief period of time, I forgot that I was watching an actor and felt like I was watching the subject. I feel the same way about the performance of Reese Witherspoon, who channeled June Carter Cash. Channeling is the only word I can think of that would describe what she did. Every actor in this movie was so dedicated that they learned whatever instruments that they had to learn in order to perform the original music. This work produced a brilliant film that I thoroughly enjoyed watching.
This movie receives a 17 in my book, but if you have not seen it, you should and see what rating you give it. Feel free the let all of us here at They Might Be Critics know what you think.

Stormy Pinkness