I remember when I first herd rumors about this movie, and Spike Lee's Involvement with it. He wanted Wesley Snipes to be The hardest working man in showbiz and I thought, perfect. Chadwick Boseman had some big shoes to fill, not only in my perception of Snipes but being James Brown himself. Lucky for Chadwick, Tate Taylor was backing him up.
The director made a well crafted biopic about James Brown. Choosing to format the story in a more nonlinear fashion, which was brilliant. Sometimes movies based on real people tend to get dull when they hit a point in their lives when nothing is really going on. Taylor fixed it by not telling the story of James Brown from beginning to end.
The movie goes over all the highlights of James Brown's career. From playing Boston after Martian Luther king was shot to his infamous car chase with the state troopers. In-between it tells the story of James Brown's youth before he even got into music.
The musical part I found interesting, as it showcases what made Mr. Brown's sound so unique and what was going through his head when he was making music.
It's strange that Chadwick Boseman is making a career out of playing famous trail blazers, doing James Brown so soon after playing Jackie Robinson in 42. He does do a better job in this film than he did in 42. Watching him perform as James Brown was entertaining.
So despite falling into some clichés you see with biopic about musicians (like that scene in the beginning of the movie when an old icon reflects on his past) the movie did have it's own unique style too it similar to Mr. Brown himself, and though Chadwick's performance was bold genuine, I'm still thinking what Wesley Snipes could have done with the film.
