Review of The Greatest Showman (2017) by Healingtoolbox1 — 22 Jan 2018

"For anyone pregnant with a dream" ~ from the film.

If you liked the Fame movie (1980) or the best parts of the Step Up series, this is for you. Better than the Step Up installments I've seen. I liked it quite a bit more than La La Land. Where La La narratively adheres to telling a realistic tale of lovers coming together--then coming part in Los Angeles, Showman is burdened with no such reality to conform to. Barnum's life is skillfully made into a series of familiar narrative tropes which give weight and gravity to almost non-stop sing-dance numbers which really fly. "Hit it out of the parK" in a baseball phrase. If you remember Stomp on YouTube or on stage, still playing in NYC stomponline.com, some numbers in Showman have the same precise musicality of sound effects; and, random background sounds are always musical. If you thought the directorial challenges of tone etc in La La Land were formidable, I did too. All those challenges plus more and done mostly better here in Showman. I love Hugh Jackman. This is him in top Broadway form. Showman offers a "great moment in cinema," the scene where Zac Efron is introduced to Zendays on ultra-slo-motion trapese. Check the stills to see this in its full beauty with the underlighting of her body. For me, Showman revealed two new female stars, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson. Hit it out of the park. I watched an hour interview on FX Guide with directory Michael Gracey. I felt he had integrity, another typical introverted genius type I can relate with.