Get on Up

So I saw Get on Up the other day and my feelings about it are complicated. Chadwick Boseman is great as James Brown, he does an awesome job becoming the iconic singer both in terms of voice and movement. He's really really fantastic in this. I just wish the movie around him was better. 

As it stands the movie seems really confused to me. It seems like the director couldn't figure out how he wanted to tell Brown's story, because pretty much every Biopic story-telling style is used in this movie. There's James Brown walking alone backstage before a big show late in his career, reflecting on his whole life. There's a press conference where the main characters answer questions cryptically and the full explanation is given via flashback. There are weird dreamy flash forwards and visions. There's even House of Cards style talking to the camera, and at least one extended fourth wall breaking explanation sequence. 

By not to committing to one (or maybe two) of these styles the movie is made weaker, not stronger. Plus it constantly jumps around the James Brown Chronology, sometimes mid-scene, make the action hard to follow. So in general, good performances (I also liked Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd) that can become lost a mess of a movie.