Review of Get On Up (2014) by 3Ebfan511 — 06 Jul 2015

Very sub-par biopic. It basically white-washed James Browns life and I feel it only vaguely touched the surface on him as a person. Mostly showed him performing and different periods of his career. Only a little bit with issues with the band, but it never really went into the heart and core of who the guy was.

For instance he was arrested multiple times for a number of things, and the film barely shows any of that. It shows 1 or 2 incidents but in such a favorable light that it doesn't have much impact and does not reveal the truth.

I like realitic biopics that really shed new light on a person and this movie did very little in that regard except showing a little bit of his upbrining, but never went into WHY he did what he did, WHY he acted that way.

It made no attempt to explain or explore the real James Brown and spent 70% of the time showing a favorable version of him and performance pieces for Chadwick Boseman (who did OK but did not really capture the guys darker side much.

) For a guy who brutally attacked his wife, almost shot people with a shotgun, and had ongoing personal problems with his bandmates this film glossed over 70% of that to try to make the guy look likable and felt more like a tribute to James Brown than an honest look at his life.

It was decently done though and was certainly worth watching, but it was just OK overall.