Get On Up

In 2007, Jamie Foxx won Best Actor for his subtle performance as Ray Charles. Boseman exceeds that solid standard. Incarnating James Brown in all his ornery uniqueness, he deserves a Pulitzer, a Nobel and instant election to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Artistically, Get on Up rivals “Walk the Line,” with a lead performance on a par with the career-making turns of Angela Bassett (“What’s Love Got to Do With It?”) and Jamie Foxx (“Ray”). With this wonder of the summer, Boseman and Taylor deliver a piece of American cultural history every bit as important as the Jackie Robinson story, a story told with heart, humor, funk and soul.

Like Brown, the movie is dynamic and entertaining as hell.

It’s the powerful, raw, energized performance by Chadwick Boseman that makes this film worth seeing.

As superb as Boseman is - moving with athletic grace, doing splits with hair curled in a sky-high pompadour, approximating Brown's rapid-fire, guttural speaking voice without descending to Eddie Murphy SNL parody - he's never quite good enough to convince you you're watching the Hardest Working Man in Show Business up on screen.

Taylor’s film so egregiously picks and chooses from Brown’s life that the result is a holey and unsatisfying document that fails to give due respect to much of the singer’s life (especially the more unsavory stuff).

Get On Up is the Hollywood biopic at its near-worst — a formless, extravagant assortment of historical incidents and lip-synched musical numbers, which ultimately amount to little more than a 138-minute showcase reel for Chadwick Boseman’s technically impressive and utterly opaque James Brown impression.

It was SO much better than I thought it was going to be. This movie did some interesting camera transitions, scene transitions, whatever you want to call it. It really put Mr. Dynamite's life into perspective. Excellent movie.

Outstanding performance by Chadwick Boseman. His James Brown is spot on. The movie tells the back story of one of rock n' roll's most defining stars. The plot is a bit jumbled with timelines bouncing back & forth, but Boseman's performance makes the trip more than worth the ride.

Chadwick Boseman is James Brown. He got the dancing, voice, and mannerisms down. While the movie itself was very messy and at times lost it's focus. A little bit too long as well with some musical scenes dragging on at times. Still, Chadwick Boseman performance makes this movie memorable. I have to admit, I got a bit teary eyed watching this, not because of the movie, but because how we lost such a talented actor to a horrible disease.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Bu kadar iyi bir malzemeden çıkan bu filmi açıkçası malzemeyi heba etmiş buldum. Zaman zaman geçmişe dönüşler ve yönetmenin oyuncuyu ekrana bakarak seyirciyle konuşturması yaratıcı ve etkili olsa da ki karısını dövdüğü sahnedeki utancın sessizlikle ekrana bakarak verilmesi hoşuma gitse de bu filmin bütününe yayılamamış bir başarı olarak kalmış. Oyunculuk yetenekleri sınırlı oyuncuları ancak James Brown müzikleri ve bazı yerlerde yardımcı oyuncular kurtarmaya çalışmış ancak onlar da bir yere kadar bunu becerebilmişler. Makyajlar gerçekten çok kötüydü. Oyuncuları çok başarısız ve abartılı bir şekilde yaşlandırmışlar bende bir miktara korku filmi etkisi yaratmadı desem yalan olur. Fakat sonuçta ben bir profesyonel eleştirmen olmadığım ve James Brown müziklerine karşı zaafım olduğundan olsa gerek yine de 6 vermeyi uygun buldum. Denk gelinirse ve James Brown'nın geçmişi hakkında merak edilirse izlenebilir. Ancak müzikleri mutlaka dinlenmelidir...