Review of Walk the Line (2005) by Harry W — 14 Dec 2012

As a fan of Johnny Cash, I never knew of the complicated situations he faced in his life, so to learn about him from the terriffic biopic was a great experience.

Finding the ideal man to portray Johnny Cash doesen't take a man with pretty looks. It takes a man who the audience is able to close their eyes and really believe that this is Johnny Cash, and although the drama Johnny goes through is the same as in many other films, Joaquin Phoenix sings with the passion of Cash himself and acts through situations so well thay you'd barely believe Joaquin isn't drunk or stoned himself. He teaches you who Johnny Cash really is: An Artist, and it's safe to say that with his incredible musical talent and acting skills that Phoenix present in Walk the Line, Phoenix is an artist portraying an artist. He really makes you care about Johnny Cash and consider the words of his songs and what they mean to him. He manages to steal the show with his final act which is where you can sense Cash's Aura emitting from Phoenix.

I've only ever seen Reese Witherspoon as the cover girl of romantic comedies, but to see her in Walk the Line kickin up a storm with flawless singing talent an immaculate June Cash voice was a real pleasure. Her acting skills had the ability to change any situation in whatever transition she chose, and something as simple as her pretty smile could brighten up the film no matter how dark it gets. The very moment that Reese Witherspoon gets up on stage and starts singing and toe tapping is the moment that the audience falls in love with her.

The soundtrack to Walk the Line is an amazing cover of much of Johnny Cash's life told through music, and the cover soundtrack is just truly astounding, thanks mainly to the vocal talents of Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix which turn it from a biographical film into a musical concert extravaganza.

Walk the Line also ended on a beautiful note whidh just does nothing more or less than leave me smiling at a masterfly crafted biography of a man I respected but never knew.

-While watching Walk the Line I moved myself closer to the tv so that I might feel closer to Cash, as he is a musician who I respect and am largely a fan of, and I was just so captivated that I felt a need to be close to him.

Walk the Line reminds us what true music is all about as I the defining moment where the record producer tells Cash what he should be playing. It's a powerful scene where so many things change, as well as our perception of everything.

On the downside, The pacing slowed down at the point where the.

Story focused on the occurring events of Johnny Dash's multiple tours, although they were important.

Also, At some points I found the story was more about June than it was about Johhny, and although it was fascinating it was not the key focus of the film and sort of skewered the plot a bit. It's as if Johnny Cash became second best to his partner in a Johnny Cash biography, which is like a biography about John F. Kennedy that tells the story more about Lee Harvey Oswald. Although, Witherspoon's performance did keep things moving, I felt there was a lack of Phoenix at parts.

Also, The story fails to chronicle the remainder of Cash's life in his final 35 years which featured important events such as the death of June Cash and his time spent doing acoustic covers of songs such as ''I won't back down'' and ''Hurt'' which are some songs where I feel we could reach Johnny Cash's soul through the beautiful sound of his voice and his acoustic guitar. It summarises it with a few titles and just really isn't sufficient enough for the story.

But in the end, Walk the Line was spectacular and the issues presented are the only things preventing me from giving it a 4 1/2 star rating. Walk the Line is a spectacular bio surely worth checking out.