Walk the Line: Extended Cut | Christian Toto saw, Drama | ENTERTAINMENT
Walk the Line: Extended Cut
March/22/08 06:58 PM Filed in: Christian Toto
saw | Drama
"Walk the Line: Extended Cut" features 17 additional minutes fused onto the theatrical cut, but the film's flaws endure despite the upgrade. Thankfully, so do its many pleasures, including the rich lead performances and the lush imagery director James Mangold liberally doles out.
"Line" follows Cash's rise from a tragic childhood to his rise to icon status. The film's prologue, involving the tragic death of Cash's older brother, is a bit tougher to watch with a straight face for those who caught "Walk Hard's" parody of the same.
Witherspoon remains the key reason to pony up for the repackaged "Line." She's glorious as June Carter Cash, the "Hee Haw" honey with a spine of steel. Her love for Cash helped him become clean, sober and, ultimately, a better human being.
Witherspoon's work left audiences dazed in theaters - she radiates enough energy to power a cornfield. On the small screen, it's Phoenix's turn that equally endures. His bruised stares at his lovely co-star could melt a glacier. Phoenix the actor is never more effective than when he brings his personal complications to the surface. Few actors can match him in that arena.
Allowing Phoenix to sing Cash's songs and not the Man in Black himself may help audiences transition from singer to performance, but without Cash's voice the songs can't help but falter. At times viewers could be excused for asking, "What's all the fuss?"
"Walk the Line" repeatedly commits the biopic sin of historical shortcuts, like Cash perusing a newspaper with the headline "Hank Williams dies" as a time marker.
Still, it's a first-rate biopic with twin performance that do their inspirations justice, and then some.
1. The goods: You want extras? This edition delivers. And it's all hands on deck as both Phoenix and Witherspoon join Mangold and other cast members for a complete recap of the film's creation.
2. The Mandatory Extras: The making-of segments tell the story of how both Phoenix and Witherspoon were selected for the lead roles, and how each brought little to no musical experience to the project. It's hard to believe, what with how melodious Witherspoon sounds, but that's their story and they've been sticking to it since the film's release. We'll forgive some of the gushing praise in these segments, since Phoenix and Witherspoon are that good. Phoenix found a new, lower octave just as "Line" was heading into production. The focus all along was on spirit, not mimicry, and with expert guidance by musical impresario T. Bone Burnett the duo made a more than suitable Carter and Cash.
3. Above and Beyond: The Cash Legacy segment gathers a disparate group of rock legends -- John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson and … wait for it … Ozzy Osbourne who break down what made Cash so special. The assembled voices are both eloquent and incisive, but Kristofferson comes away with the most concise comment.
"The tension between his spiritual side and his wild side was what made him what he was," Kristofferson says.
The most intriguing extra explores Cash's faith, an element the film gives too little attention. The segment breaks down his approach to gospel music, including comments from Cash's spiritual advisors as well as his musical peers.
— Christian Toto
