Walk The Line Review

HIGHS

• I've always had something of a fascination with Johnny Cash but I've never known a great deal about his life. This film helped to quench my curiousity.
• Fantastic performances by Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Especially Pheonix; he goes far beyond simple mimicry and succeeds in a completely believable transformation into "The Man in Black."
• Great interweaving of story and music done by T-Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Both fans of Cash and newcomers alike should be pleased with the selections.
• If Jamie Foxx was deserving of an Oscar for Ray, then Joaquin Phoenix deserves two for Walk the Line. Unlike Foxx, he actually performed all of the music numbers in the film and learned to play the guitar from scratch.
• For people who aren't familiar with Johnny Cash's legacy, this film could entice them to seek out his prodigious body of work. I know it certainly prompted me to look up some choice tunes I hadn't listened to in awhile.
• Will make you forget all about that terrible, terrible The Village. If you hadn't already. If you had I'm sorry to bring it back up again.

LOWS

• The film could have done a better job with pacing, but when you're making a biopic there's only so many liberties that can be taken while still keeping true to actual events. You can't just start re-writing the man's history.
• I would have liked to have seen more attention paid to the effects Cash's music had on a nation-wide audience. We really don't get a good sense of just how popular his songs were becoming with people who didn't reside in penitentiaries.
• My friend Chris tells me that Johnny Cash actually hand-picked Joaquin Phoenix to play him in Walk the Line. It's a shame he couldn't see the finished product before he passed away.
• It's almost creepy at times how much Phoenix looks and sounds like Cash at various points throughout the film. I guess that's not so much a "low" as it is a "holy cow, that's almost creepy."

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

Random related fact: Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix both went through six months of vocal training with music producer T-Bone Burnett.