Get on Up

Now THIS is the type of movie that I was hoping Jersey Boys would have been.

Get on Up tells the life story of James Brown, one of the most influential people on modern music. Really no matter what kind of music you listen to, James Brown most likely had an effect on it in some way through his innovation and show business styling. 

Personally, I'm not extremely familiar with the man nor his music at an intimate level. If a James Brown song came on, I could tell you that it was James Brown singing, but I don't seek out to listen to his music in my free time. But his effect on the music I listen to remains all the same. 

Truth be told, I really didn't know that much about the man himself either. I think in the back of mind I knew that he had a dark side to him, as do most famous musicians it seems, but I didn't know anything about his upbringing, where he found his passion for music, or why he behaved the way he did at times. 

And that aspect, possibly even more so than the music itself, is really what I found to be the best part about Get On Up. It not only celebrates his talents, but it explores the man himself and provides a lot of context to the rest of his life. I was consistently blown away by how hard of a life James Brown had as a child...practically growing up in the woods with no love from his parents, no schooling, etc. His life story is an amazing example of someone who became iconic just by their own sheer willpower and ability to dream.

The Godfather of Soul, but actually that's
Chadwick Boseman

Unfortunately this also leads to my biggest complaint of the film and a creative decision that they made that I felt was unnecessary. The editing of the film is done non-sequentially, as in, there are parts of his childhood scattered throughout the various stages of his adulthood. This would have been fine if there was at least some aspect of the film that stayed in order with the progression of time. But the film switches from various scenes on a dime at times and it's extremely difficult at first to know when in James Brown's life we are watching. Eventually, based on the hair, clothes, and makeup of Boseman, the audience is able to tell when the movie is but it still doesn't hide the fact that it wasn't necessary in the first place. I'm all for the switching back to childhood moments as I found that they were well timed and usually very poignant with what was going on in the adult life of James Brown...but the editing back and forth between adult moments? It causes confusion and there were not that many stories to be learned from them. 

Well that's an awkward way to hug someone...

This poor choice of editing style is quickly rectified when you realize how insane of a performance that Chadwick Boseman is giving. The secondary cast is strong and they do their part (except for Dan Aykroyd who I thought delivered his lines awkwardly) but they all take backseat to Boseman. I can't imagine for how long he studied the mannerisms and voice of James Brown, but he nails all of it. There are several scenes where his likeness to the late singer is eerie just out of sheer accuracy. Even more amazing his how well he captured the musical performances. I'm fairly certain that the actual singing is not Boseman, but the dancing and working of the stage is all him and he is incredible. There is a dance number near the end, with Boseman wearing that iconic gold, sleeveless jumpsuit, where I was getting chills just by how much you could tell Boseman was losing himself in the music, the "mashed potato" dancing, the splits (which he is phenomenal at), and just having a ton of fun. I was in awe.

What a fantastic scene and a great performance. Jersey Boys
could learn a thing or two

All in all, Get on Up was an awesome musical biopic on one of the more important people from the music industry. Boseman owns the role and at least for me, he is the frontrunner for an Oscar at this point in the year. The music is great, the story the film tells was startling to someone like myself who had no idea about it, and from a technical standpoint it's well done. Only the odd editing choice of the story really holds it back from being just as iconic as the man himself.

It may not be the best musical biopic ever, but it's certainly the funkiest.

CONS:

• A really odd editing decision plagues the film. Going back and forth between childhood and adult hood was a smart decision, but the constant cuts between different points in his adulthood did nothing but confuse the audience
• Some of the musical numbers are pretty obviously lip-synced and have some odd sound editing. On more than one occasion the crowd's roar was just drowning out the music
• Incorporates some scenes from Brown's life that don't serve a higher purpose in the film. I thought that there were significantly more until the ending ties a lot together, but still there are some scenes that should have been left out
• Dan Aykroyd is usually a great actor, just not in this film

PROS:

• Chadwick Boseman has to be my first PRO. His performance is nothing short of mesmerizing for just how well he was able to imitate Brown
• Special bullet point for Boseman's dancing (assuming that was him). Just incredible
• Some great musical performances throughout, especially the one that I mentioned in the review. This subsequently leads to an awesome soundtrack
• The cuts back to Brown's childhood are often well timed and really shed a lot of light as to why he was the way he was. He had a very hard upbringing and as someone who didn't know about that history it was very interesting to see unfold
• Strong performances from the secondary cast
• Picks the most important times of Brown's life and gives us a complete picture of the man, his music, and his show business. It felt like a very complete movie and a strong film representation of Brown's legacy

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10