Product: Cadillac Records [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 3.0
Too Much Time.. Too Little Movie
Cadillac Records was a bad case of trying to put a lot of events and a long time period into a two hour movie. The music is great if you are into that type of music, but if a great story is what interests you like me then it is hard to stay interested for the duration.Cadillac tells the story of Leonard Chess and his Chess Records outfit. The movie does a poor job of letting us in on how the record company really got started. The main musical careers that are followed are that of Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Etta James. Muddy Waters gets by far the largest story in the movie of the three. They also touch on Little Walter and Howlin Wolf, but you don't want to get involved in their story, as you won't get many answers. I did research on Leonard Chess and various other characters from the movie after viewing and found that a lot of information in the movie is very fictional, which is fine, but they should have refined their focus in that case. I won't give away the ending but it is very anticlimactic.(Spoiler Alert) One part of the movie I really disliked was the fact that they have Leonard Chess act like marriage is so important to him early on in the movie, but then they have him cheat with Etta James while she is intoxicated near the end of the movie? As I said before, too many confused storylines for trying to cover such a long period of time.Mos Def is a very interesting choice as Chuck Berry in the movie and is actually a bright spot in the movie. It is unfortunate that he was in and out of the movie so quickly and that they didn't really tie up his storyline. Beyonce Knowles also puts in a strong performance, but her late entry in the movie is a disappointment. Adrien Brody is, well, Adrien Brody and kind of just there. If you like the time period and if you like the music then I would suggest this movie for you. Otherwise spend your two hours on something else. Visit [...] for Technology reviews, news and trends.