an excellent romance, but not so good biopic

Rating: 7/10 (11 August 2006)

Walk The Line is a generic biopic about a great country star, Johnny Cash. The storyline is really predictable due to the fact that the film follows the same formula as other movies of that type. Thus, at the beginning we have traumatic childhood, then difficulties in the road to big career, development of the career, problems with drugs and numerous breakdowns and finally redemption, coming back to glory. Throughout the movie I had a feeling that I'm dealing with 2nd part of Ray. The flick, like most of the films which attempts to present the whole life of the figure, is very episodic and does not show thoroughly real dilemmas of an artist or creation of his work (songs in this case). In this respect Capote visibly surpasses Walk the Line. However, the film undoubtedly works as a touching love story. Not only do Jaquin Pheonix (Johnny Cash) and Reese Witherspoon (June Carter) play great, but there is also a real chemistry between them on the screen. There are also some marvellous scenes in which they sing together on the scene. Nonetheless, in my opinion Felicity Huffman for her superb performance in Transamerica should won the Oscar instead of Reese to whom I took a liking after this flick. Moreover, Mangold efficiently directs and the pacing is good. To sum up, the reception of Walk The Line depends mainly on your expectations. It's an excellent romance, but not so good biopic.