Get on Up
Rising from extreme poverty as a young boy to become the Godfather of Soul, the story of James Brown (Chadwick Boseman) is a story wrought with the highest highs and the lowest lows. Known for being a wellspring of creativity, musical innovation, and for being a hard driving businessman, highlights of his life and those close to the legend are depicted in this latest biopic. But who shaped James Brown the most and where specifically did he get his incredible drive?
Told in a semi sequential order but featuring key flashbacks director Tate Taylor (The Help) slowly pulls back the curtain to reveal what made James Brown tick; providing a stage for Chadwick Boseman to shine bright with an impressive physical and dynamic performance, meanwhile the rest of the ensemble including Nelsan Ellis, Viola Davis, Lennie James, Octavia Spencer, Jill Scott, and Dan Aykroyd make up a solid foundation for the rest of the film. Albeit, at times the film feels autobiographical and thus suffers from delusions of self grandeur in almost a James Thurbur Walter Mitty way, but then again, perhaps that’s the point? And, for having a relatively low budget, seeing past the lower budget elements is easy to do once you let the story take you (A certain Vietnam scene is indicative of this writing and production). Running a little on the long side at 138 minutes a little more trimming might have been a good idea, but as poignantly stated, nobody tells James Brown how long to play but James Brown, he paid the cost to be the boss. Worth at least a matinee consideration and maybe more, Get on Up is rated PG-13.