He’s got soul, and he’s superbad.
The H-Bomb: I should confess right off the bat that I was not looking forward to Get on Up. I’m not a fan of musical biopics in general- Walk the Line bored me, Ray I never even saw- and from the trailers, this didn’t look like it would be of any remote interest to me. Just another by-the-numbers, formulaic biopic about some musician I don’t give a hollering hoot about. That’s what I was expecting going into Get on Up. What I got, however, was something else entirely. Something unexpectedly special, and for the most part, unexpectedly spectacular.
Get on Up tells the rags to riches story of James Joseph Brown, Jr. (Chadwick Boseman), who grew up dirt poor in rural Georgia, and went on to become a funk music superstar and, ultimately, the Godfather of Soul. While it may sound like a typical biopic, in actuality, it’s anything but. Directed with punch and pizazz by Tate Taylor (The Help), the movie hops around non-chronologically, covering events from his life, both major and minor; his mother (Viola Davis) walking out when he was a child, his meeting future bandmate and confidant, Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis), with whom he founded The Famous Flames, as well as more colorful, surreal moments, such as a turbulent flight he took to Vietnam, and early encounters with fellow up-and-coming musicians, Little Richard (Brandon Smith) and Mick Jagger (who co-produced the film). The whole thing has kind of a Forrest Gump feel to it.
We do get some standard musician biopic stuff, like Brown’s disputes with his bandmates, success going to his head, rocky relationships with women, but director Taylor brings such vitality to the proceedings, and keeps it moving at such a breakneck pace, that the film never gets bogged down. The constant jumping to various points in Brown’s life is jarring at first, but the transitions are handled cleverly, and the relevance that a scene in one point in time would have to another much later on, made me realize that the sequence of events wasn’t randomly strung together. They were very carefully thought out by writers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, and placed properly.
At points, the film will move from one period to another by breaking the fourth wall, with Brown addressing the camera directly. Not in long winded monologues, but in a sentence, or even a couple of words. If there’s anything Get on Up is not short on, it’s stylish flourishes like that. More often than not, I would find such flourishes gimmicky and annoying. Here, however, they constantly kept me on my toes… along with the music. Oh yes, the music. For any fan of Brown, the soundtrack alone makes the movie worthwhile. The performance sequences just pop from the screen, and completely bring the house down. Boseman is lip-synching in these sequences, but that don’t matter; he’s got the looks, the moves, and the energy down so pat you’ll want to dance in aisles. The music numbers really bring the film to rip-roaring life.
As for Boseman, he is an absolute marvel. It’s a lame cliche to say that an actor “doesn’t just play this character, he becomes this character.” Well, lame cliche or not, in this case, it’s true, Boseman doesn’t just play James Brown, he fucking becomes James Brown. Seriously, can we just give this guy an Oscar, because I can’t see any other performance coming even close to this one. Charismatic, funny, and utterly engaging, he is that rare kind of cat who can make a crowd go wild. There’s no way I can overstate it, Boseman is phenomenal. If Mr. Brown were alive, and could see this performance, even he would feel a little humbled by it… maybe.
I can’t know that for sure, because while Get on Up succeeds as a stirring crowd pleaser, it ultimately fails as a character study, because we never get inside Brown’s head. Brown is larger than life, flamboyant, and a complete egomaniac, yet as shown here, he seems to have no sense of self-awareness. The childhood scenes show that he had it rough as a youngster, but we never get a how or why he fell in love with music. If anything, his childhood sequences show that he would have been one hell of a boxer. Also, I would have liked to have seen more of his life outside of showbiz, with his wife and children. As it is, the movie merely brushes over most of that.
These, however, are minor relatively minor flaws that only occurred to me after the film was over. As a whole, it is one funky, fantastic motion picture. This isn’t your typical rise-and-fall of a musician flick, it is a vivid, vibrant look at the life of a truly unique entertainer, told with heart and humor. Of course, Guardians of the Galaxy will be the big number one this weekend, but, if you have the time to make a second trip to the theater, give this one a look. As richly entertaining as any film you’ll see this year, Get on Up is as lively and electrifying as Mr. Brown himself.
