Lori and I finally made it to see Walk The Line and the short summary is we loved it.
The following is my opinion on the movie:
I will admit that I was apprehensive to see this movie. While I love the music of Johnny Cash, I do not like the usual media attention that surrounds movies like this (Ray Included). This attention is usually given to the singing performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. While I commend their singing efforts, they do not approach the original sound or emotion of the singers they are portraying. This is not to take away from their overall performance, because I think they did an awesome job and I’d see it again.
For me, this movie (and Ray) is purely about the story of the life, struggles and love of the great Johnny and June Carter Cash. Not a, how well / accurate this actor can sing the part, because most actors can’t sing. That’s why their actors and not singers and there are a few who can cross the line. With this point in mind (the actors telling the story and conveying some emotions of their lives), this movie was amazing! Johnny and June Carter Cash’s life story is a very interesting and great (if you can see past the drugs and infidelity) love story.
This is where the makers of Ray got it wrong. This is not to say I didn’t enjoy Ray, I just don’t enjoy all the praise that Jamie Foxx gets for being exactly like Ray Charles. I found that in Ray, I spent too much time thinking, wow Jamie Foxx looks like Ray Charles, and he sounds like him too and I forgot to pay attention to the story. Again, no! While he did a fine job playing and acting like Ray Charles, when it comes down to the music, if you listen to original Ray Charles and compare, Jamie does not convey the same emotion and soul. Both movie have a great and similar story (with the political / civil rights issue being different in Ray, of course).
In Walk The Line, they seem to have taken the approach of knowing they were not going to be able to perfectly match the look or sound (and it doesn’t matter), so they get actors who can effectively tell the story and have a decent likeness (you see this with the Elvis, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis characters). For me, that was enough, my mind filled in the gaps automatically and I was able to sit back and get wrapped up in the love story. Thumbs Up!
In summary, Walk The Line was awesome (and so was Ray). Go see Walk The Line and try not to be concerned with the technicalities of whether the actors could really sing the parts or look exactly like the people. Watch the movie, get wrapped up in the story, and if the music caught your ear, or you liked the singing of the actors, go and buy the original recordings from the artists. If you liked Johnny Cash, I’d recommend to get the American III album. Here he is covering popular songs, which is a cool thing for an artist as accomplished as Johnny Cash, to be so humble to say, I really like that Tom Petty song, I Won’t Back Down or U2’s One. Next you could pick up a greatest hits package (vol 1 or similar), and there you’ll hear Ring of Fire, It ain’t me babe, and walk the line. There are so many good Johnny cash albums and songs, you can take in so many directions.