The funk lives on

Chadwick Boseman as James Brown

Born of the MTV generation, I was exposed to a different wave of music at the time; such as the likes of Kurt Cobain, The Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, just to name a few. I didn't know too much about James Brown's music. The first song I ever heard from him was "This is a man's world" one time it was playing on my dad's radio. It was the first time I ever heard a "soul" song of any kind. As I grew older, I became aware of how a majority of today's music borrows so much from James Brown's influence and style. There's a reason why he was called the "godfather of soul" much like how Elvis was called the "king of rock and roll" and Michael Jackson the "king of pop". Get on Up touches on that subject about James Brown's life from living in extreme poverty to becoming the biggest pioneer in R&B, funk and soul music. Here he is played flawlessly to a chord by Chadwick Boseman who pulls off the amazing feat of portraying the artist from his singing to his dancing; by far the best performance from an actor in all of 2014. That being said, Get on Up isn't perfect as it skimps on a few details on James Brown's life, such as his period of drug abuse, incidents of domestic violence that made headlines during the early 90s as well as the legal problems he suffered throughout most of his career. There are also non-linear parts of the film which at times make it hard to follow the story. Nevertheless, as far as biopic movies go, Get on Up is a step above and is one of the most entertaining films of 2014 thanks to an unforgettable performance by Boseman, proving that the funk will never stop.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        -Reviewed by Razor, 2/9/15