Get on Up (No Spoilers)
When I decided to go see this film, I really had no expectations. All I knew was that the movie was based on the life of James Brown and that it was filmed in Mississippi. Honestly, had I not known that a few friends of mine were in the movie as extras, I probably would not have even considered going to see it. And that would have been tragic.
At first, I thought I wouldn’t like this movie because of the use of what I call a “muddled timeline”. You know what I mean… when a movie constantly uses flashback scenes to help tell the story. One minute you’re in the 1930’s then you’re in the 90s, then you’re back in the 60s. Usually I hate that in a storyline, but for some reason it worked perfectly in telling this story. The use of this technique explains exactly what it is James is doing and why he’s doing it. Absolutely brilliant, I thought.
Another thing that I was a bit worried about at first was the possible over use of music scenes, as in too much song and dance and not enough story. I have seen this happen before in biographical films of other musicians. They will have a little bit of a story followed by an awkward “and then there’s this” music scene. Usually I find it very distracting. However, that was not the case here. There is just enough musical numbers dotted throughout the film that flow perfectly with the storyline.
I was very impressed by Get on Up. The casting is superb, though I may be a little biased because of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are in it and I absolutely loved them from The Help. But I thought Chadwick Boseman was excellent. There were times when I couldn’t tell if it was Boseman or if they were using archived footage of the man himself.
And because the movie was filmed back home in Mississippi, I was even more excited to see so many familiar Jackson landmarks, such as the Standard Life building, Thalia Mara Hall, Capitol Street, and even the Elite Restaurant (I am almost positive that I have sat at the booth that James was sitting at in that scene) It was pretty cool to see a little bit of home on the big screen, especially being 1,000 miles away. It made me that much more homesick.
My only complaint is that of the film’s rating. The MPAA gave it a PG-13 rating, noting the sexual content, drug use, strong language, and violent situations. That is all true, but there is quite a bit of it. Much stronger than a PG-13 rating. Personally, I feel like an R rating would have been justified. But I don’t want to nitpick. Just be mindful of that before watching it with the family. Other than that, it’s an excellent film and I highly recommend seeing it!
