The First Great Film of Its Genre

Rating: 9/10 (5 November 2015)

If this is not the first film to deal with the life of music royalty, it certainly was the first influential one. What the Beatles were to music, their first film was to music biopics. It is cheeky and comic, rebellious in the most British way possible, and the cornerstone for the generations of music films to come. If you are a particularly nitpicky person who is both obsessed with originality and loves music films, don't watch this movie; you'll love it just fine, but all other music films will be ruined for you. Even though I'm not one of those people, I still can see myself pointing out, "Yep, that's from a Hard Day's Night. And that. And that. Only they did it way better than this film," whenever I'm watching a music movie with a group of friends.
This film details an exaggerated but still believable day in the life of the Beatles with pizazz and sharpness. They play music, deal with managers, try new things, explore, and so on. There is a scene in which they have to answer questions from reporters.
One asks, "Do you consider yourself a mod or a rocker?" To which Ringo responds, "Uh, no, I'm a mocker." Gold (and apparently a real line he said). More importantly, it defines the tone of this film. It is not brash and anger-filled, like would be done if the film were modern or American and certainly if it were both. Rather, it is sharp and confident. It uses a cinematographic style that is typically used for documentaries without trying to push on you that it is a documentary.
All and all, it fits the persona and style of The Beatles quite well. For how much people love to complain about the facts that famous people can do pretty much anything without getting caught, this film and this group reminds that such is not necessarily a bad thing. The Beatles were not vile vagrants, nor were they trying to burn everything down. They were simply open-minded artists who acted as they believed all people had the right to act. Great artists lift society.
They also lift movies. Little to no effort was put into distributing this film, with it simply being used as an excuse to sell the soundtrack album. But the joke was on film when the movie turned out to be surprisingly good, a classic of the eras. I love it when that happens.
Above all, this film is entertaining. There are some parts that fall flat, at least for me, most notably being the scenes involving Paul's grandpa, hence the 9. I do not like this film as much as some; to me, it is more a scenic river ride than a swirling, striking rushing waterfalls of adventure. But still, what a river ride it is. I felt sucked into the atmosphere, into the world they created. I did not want to leave, certainly not after ninety minutes. I feel more connected to the Beatles and their mythos now. If nothing else, I can tell them apart even with their similar haircuts now.