Walk the Line Review

Let me first say that I am not a Johnny Cash fan and I didn’t know anything about the man prior to seeing Walk the Line. It was pretty obvious to me that this movie deserved the hype it got and I would be surprised if Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon didn’t win Oscars. The acting was excellent and Robert Patrick aka T1000 from Terminator 2 was surprisingly good. I know there are some purists out there that think the original Johnny Cash and June Carter recordings are better, but after comparing the soundtrack versions of some songs with the originals, I actually thought Joaquin and Reese had very good covers. If I had to choose between the Joaquin version and the original Cash version, I’d probably choose the version off the soundtrack since it was remixed and more contemporary. Joaquin seems to have a pretty rich voice even though he probably isn’t as good a vocalist as Cash.

The movie does run a little long, but it only drags in a few places. Joaquin’s subtle transitions are very well done and his wardrobe looks really good. It is by far the best performance I’ve seen from Joaquin. I’m not a huge Reese fan but she does a really good job as well and I thought the accent was natural. The style of the movie is pretty much the same as all of the recent biopics, but something about it was just done better. As great as Jamie Foxx is, Ray wasn’t as good a movie. Both had excellent music, but Walk the Line was not as slow and boring as Ray. I would describe Walk the Line as one of those movies that you can’t figure out why it was good, but for whatever reason you liked it. Maybe it was just the subtle acting and the persona, but overall it was just a well done film.

Walk the Line = Worth Seeing in Theaters/Great Rental