With the sucess of Ray in 2004 it stands to reason that another biopic about would be on its coat-tales this was of coarse 2005’s Johnny Cash film “Walk the Line.” This was one of those movies that I really wanted to see in the theaters but for one reason or another just didn’t get the chance. Now getting the DVD from Netflix I popped it in as soon as I got the time and I was not dissapointed.
While there may have been a few points where the movie could have used a bit more of a trimming running in at nearly 2 hrs 20 mins it doesn’t feel overly long. There are alot of good things to say about this movie. The first I have to mention is the music. All of the music is perfromed by the actors in the movie and Joaquin Phoenix is nearly indestinguishable from the orginenal Man in Black. The movie features well known hits like “Cry, Cry, Cry”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, and “Ring of Fire” as well as duets with Reese Witherspoon as June Carter “Jackson”, and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” While Reese does have a brighter tone in her voice than June she has a wonderful tone all her own and its close enough.
The story follows the rise in popularity of Johnny and his ten year stint with addiction and the dark places of his life and his pursuit of his eventual wife June Carter. The movie has wonderful intensity and is just about as good as 2004’s Ray. While Joaquin is very strong in the lead I felt that the stage was stolen by Reese Witherspoon’s June Carter. She is funny, strong, completely natural, and completely different from anything she’s ever done before. She certainly earned the Oscar nod and is probably should be the frontrunner to win. That’s not to discount the supporting roles one performance I’d like to point out is Robert Patrick, of Terminator 2 fame, as Cash’s father.
As far as the DVD is concerned there could have been much more. There are two features one is the director’s commentary which I didn’t get the pleasure of listening to yet and an assortment of deleted scenes. These are both good extras but I longed for a few featurettes. Like maybe a making of the movie, show Johnny Cash’s influence on the pre-production, and more information on the man and the music. This is the only area where I believe that this DVD fell short. but who knows, there’s probably an uber edition planned somewhere down the line.
Anyway, I completely recomend this movie, especially for lovers of that era and music.
Rating: A-
). The acting was superb, and as noted already so was the music. He truly does a remarkable impression of Cash, and Witherspoon is perhaps actually a better singer than June Carter Cash was.