A magnificent action musical

Rating: 9/10 (12 July 2017)

This film opens with a robbery and car chase, not exactly set to "Bellbottoms" by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but more like choreographed to it. I can truly say I was 100% with this one from the very beginning. There are similar action sequences set to "Neat Neat Neat" by the Damned and "Hocus Pocus" by Focus. They are all incredible. It doesn't stop there ... music suffuses this film. All the performances are good ... Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm stand out as criminals who are varying degrees of menacing ... but this is really a film about music and action. I do think that the last half hour works a bit less well than the rest of it. In particular, I thought the climactic action set to "Brighton Rock" by Queen was a lot more frenetic and less well choreographed than the rest of the film, but by this point in the film, it's a quibble to say that it's working less well.