Walk the Line - PG 13

Last year we had a movie about the life of Ray Charles. It came out and was quite popular and went o­n to win many awards. Whether those were given because of the quality of the film or because Ray Charles had died recently is up for discussion, but the film won them nonetheless. This year we have the same situation with Walk the Line, a film about the life of Johnny Cash, who also recently died, and you can already feel the award buzz that surrounded it.

Walk the Line starts with Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) getting ready to go back o­nstage for an encore during his Folsom Prison gig. He is staring at a circular saw and reflecting o­n his past. He remembers his older brother dying when he was still young, and his abusive father blaming him for it. Cash proceeds to remember the rest of his childhood and his service in the Air Force and how it helped him write songs that had meaning. Through his memories, Cash tells us the story of how he became a rock star and eventually found his true love.


In a movie like this depends heavily upon the performances of its cast. Joaquin Phoenix plays Cash perfectly and has been mentioned quite a bit in regards to a Best Actor nomination. Reese Witherspoon also has a bunch of buzz surrounding her performance as Cash’s love interest June Carter. Most people who see the film will have some familiarity with Cash and Carter, and the actors performances of them should please.

Last year Ray was nominated for Best Picture. It certainly was not o­ne of the five best films of last year, maybe o­ne of the best 25. Walk the Line is no different. Both films are entertaining and have a good story, but there have been many other films which have been much better.


The problem with Walk the Line is that the story is so clichéd. We’ve seen this story before with most films about the rise of someone famous. The main character often has a troubled childhood and problems with women and drugs. This leads to the character finding what is needed to conquer said problems which leads to the characters redemption. Walk the Line follows this formula exactly and the reason it follows the formula so well is because the story is true.


This presents another problem with Walk the Line, you cannot blame anyone for the story being clichéd. If there were no troubled childhood or alcohol problems then there would be no movie. Nobody would go to a film about a famous person who was born in the middle class and stayed clean all his life just to get a break and become famous. There is no conflict in that story.


Walk the Line does what it can with its story and does a good job at making the film entertaining and the end product is well worth checking out. The performances are spot o­n and the film is shot beautifully. Is the film o­ne of the best of the year? Of course not. Should it be showered with awards come awards season? Oh hell no, and if they do come, they’ll be for the recently deceased Johnny Cash and not the movie. What this film is, is an entertaining look at the life of a music legend, worthy of a recommendation.