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by R.J. Carter Published: March 1, 2006
So why do I feel let down seeing this film? I can't say that it takes liberties with the history. I can't say it was poorly performed, although Reese Witherspoon made for a sometimes-too-perky June Carter. But when it was all said and done and the final credits rolled, I couldn't help but think: This film's up for an Oscar? Joaquin Phoenix adequately portrays the troubled young Johnny Cash, a man who leaves an abusive father for a dream of creating music. We see him only briefly in the military, just long enough to learn he didn't really fit there. From there, he moves to Memphis and takes a job as a door-to-door salesman, but it's obvious his heart is elsewhere. He slips in the back door of Sun where he sees a young Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton, hardly a dead-ringer) perform, and it reinforces his decision to cut a record. But when he finally gets an audition with Regency Studio, his band's rendition of "I Was There When It Happened" hardly impresses anyone. So he digs out "Folsom Prison Blues" and, well, the rest is history. "Walk the Line" reinforces the story that, if you became a music star back in the day, you were destined for a long bout with drugs, alcohol, and infidelity. The difference between this tale and Elvis's is that June actually rescues Johnny from himself. In fact, the entire Carter family does, in a great scene where Ezra Carter keeps the pushers at bay away from Johnny's house with his shotgun. Throughout the film, Johnny pursues June with a passion that can only be seen as obsessive, starting when he's just a young boy listening to her on the radio. Despite being married to Vivian, with whom he had children, he doesn't even hide his feelings for June, even when June does nothing to reciprocate those feelings. She's his friend, and that's all she wants to be. But after years of being asked, and years of turning him down, she finally accepts when Johnny proposes to her on stage, interrupting a performance of "Jackson" to do so. It's a good film. In places, it's even a great film. But ultimately, I didn't come away feeling like I knew Johnny Cash. But I did feel as though I saw him -- props to the casting and makeup departments in that regard. The special features include an optional commentary track by Director James Mangold, who also provides the commentary for the 10 deleted scenes, which are non-incorporable into the film. Previews on this disc include "Kingdom of Heaven", and "The Family Stone". The audio can be set to English DTS, English 5.1, French Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround, with optional subtitles in English and Spanish. |
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