Elvis - The Movie...now THAT was a music biopic!

Rating: 6/10 (7 February 2006)

The opening five minutes of the movie feels like the best 30 seconds of Jurassic Park. A colossal, distant pounding, getting ever louder. The ground is shaking, the audience is quaking, the cinema's sub-woofer is close to breaking. Then comes the money shot; all slimy, reptilian skin and dilating pupils. Yup, ole Joaquin/Johnny needs to drink more mineral water and lay off the diet pills. As for ole Joaquin, that boy sure can act! Just watch him. He's acting up a storm. He's acting his gosh darned butt off. There lies one of the two (possibly three) problems of Walk the Line. At no point do you forget that you are watching a person pretending to be another person. The second problem is this - it makes Johnny's life look uneventful, and consequently, makes Johnny look dull. And the third problem? You know the bit in the Blues Brothers where they do a gig at a red neck bar and the lady behind the bar says, "We play BOTH types of music, country AND western!"? Reece Witherspoon's entire performance is based on this woman.