Review: Walk the Line
Walk the Line is the story of the life of Johnny Cash as he started his singing career, wrecked his life, and found salvation in God and June Carter.
Joaquin Phoenix did a good imitation of Cash's look and guitar strumming, and his voice imitation would be hard for anyone to improve on - only two of the songs in the movie are Cash recordings. Yet his performance struggles to get beyond imitation. You can't blame Phoenix. Johnny Cash was almost certainly one of the five greatest American musicians of the 20th century (I made that up; don't ask for the names of the other 4). He was an extremely strong and distinctive character, and Phoenix had gigantic shoes to fill. Also, Joaquin is distinctive in his own way - maybe it's just his face, maybe something deeper - in a manner that makes it hard to see him as his character. This also interfered with his performance in The Village.
The story was good but not compelling. World complained that it didn't do justice to the factor that Christianity played in restoring his troubled life. While I don't know enough of his bio to say, I don't think it was as bad as they say. His religion is most widely seen through his songs, which came through the movie between his gospel beginnings and some things he said later in the film. And it certainly didn't capture my larger-than-life ideal of Cash.
His divorce and remarriage interested me. God hates divorce and remarriage - Christ calls it adultery. Yet June Carter Cash apparently was a big factor in Cash's recovery from drug abuse and depression. Another story I just read today has some similarities, showing that good can indeed come from a bad thing.
Altogether, while the movie doesn't seem compelling enough for a big Academy Award showing, it was good and I'd recommend it to anyone mature enough for its themes.
Joaquin Phoenix did a good imitation of Cash's look and guitar strumming, and his voice imitation would be hard for anyone to improve on - only two of the songs in the movie are Cash recordings. Yet his performance struggles to get beyond imitation. You can't blame Phoenix. Johnny Cash was almost certainly one of the five greatest American musicians of the 20th century (I made that up; don't ask for the names of the other 4). He was an extremely strong and distinctive character, and Phoenix had gigantic shoes to fill. Also, Joaquin is distinctive in his own way - maybe it's just his face, maybe something deeper - in a manner that makes it hard to see him as his character. This also interfered with his performance in The Village.
The story was good but not compelling. World complained that it didn't do justice to the factor that Christianity played in restoring his troubled life. While I don't know enough of his bio to say, I don't think it was as bad as they say. His religion is most widely seen through his songs, which came through the movie between his gospel beginnings and some things he said later in the film. And it certainly didn't capture my larger-than-life ideal of Cash.
His divorce and remarriage interested me. God hates divorce and remarriage - Christ calls it adultery. Yet June Carter Cash apparently was a big factor in Cash's recovery from drug abuse and depression. Another story I just read today has some similarities, showing that good can indeed come from a bad thing.
Altogether, while the movie doesn't seem compelling enough for a big Academy Award showing, it was good and I'd recommend it to anyone mature enough for its themes.
posted by Derby at 15:40
3 Comments:
My wife and I plan to go see it this weekend. Thanks for stopping by to read my stories, and thanks for the link!
Good to meet ya!
I've never been much of a Cash fan. . . :-P But I'll probably see that movie at some point.
How ya doin', Derby?
Hm - so there's actually a movie out that's somewhat worth seeing, besides the big ones? That's good to know. :) Hey Derby! I was just stopping by...
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