Review of Get On Up (2014) by Tom R — 04 Aug 2014

I saw GET ON UP! Its time to shake your money maker because they've finally made a movie about the one and only Godfather of Soul Mr. Please Please Please himself, James Brown!! I have been waiting for someone to do a James Brown flick for I a while now.

The music legend has inspired every form of modern music from rock to funk to pop to hip hop and beyond! But not just anybody can play the hardest working man in show business, everything from his iconic voice to his incredible dance moves have to be on point making the list of contenders very short.

Fortunately for us Universal Pictures was able to find Chadwick Boseman, yes thats right, Mr. 42 himself plays Soul Brother Number 1 this time and as hard as it must have been to try to copy James Brown, Boseman really knocks this one out of the park (pun intended).

The movie gives a chronicling of Mr. Brown's rise from boyhood to the very pinnacle of his fame and all the peaks and valleys in between. The movie is told in a series of flashbacks throughout Brown's life and though a little jarring, it helps to explain Brown's motivation throughout his incredible life.

The acting here is great, the cinematography is creative and the story is real and pulls no punches in showing you all of James Brown's victories and folly throughout his life and career between 1940 and 1996.

If you liked Ray or Walk the Line you'll really like this because it's not only dramatic and true, it doesn't forget the audience is watching and it knows just when to lighten the mood with a laugh.

I saw this movie with my dad, AKA Soul Brother Number 2, and my mom, who would couldn't care less about the man and they both came out liking it. I have to say that I liked it too! In fact Get On Up earns itself a 4.

..out of 5.