The Greatest Showman - movie review
The Greatest Showman
Plot: Inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams
Director: Michael Gracey
Certificate: PG (brief mild threat, violence)
Runtime: 1hr 45 mins
Release Date: Tuesday 26th December
Before this review gets underway, I first just want to apologise. This apology goes to out my friends and family that have had to put up with my attempt at singing the plethora of songs from The Greatest Showman soundtrack. I could not possibly imagine the pain and annoyance you must have been suffering hearing me screech and belt out these songs. So consider this a most heartfelt and sincerest apology. And with that now being said, ON WITH THE SHOW!
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| Little did they know, they both were terrified of heights. |
The Greatest Showman is the tale of P.T. Barnum who, after a difficult upbringing, thrives off of his imagination and through a series of risky decisions, decides to open his own show in which he showcases the weird and the wonderful for the world to see. In other words, his shows and entertainment style were the basis for the circus shows we see today. However, this isn't just a typical biopic drama. Coinciding with the glitz and showmanship that Barnum possessed, The Greatest Showman is a full blown musical. A passion project for Jackman, this has been a whirlwind of a production to get off the ground but through the spectacular musical sequences and Jackman's sensational charisma emanating through the screen, The Greatest Showman is a great time to be had and I feel this will become a tremendous crowd pleaser. And it really is Jackman who emerges as the star of the show in fact, you could say that he truly earns the title of The Greatest Showman. We all knew he could sing and dance and completely transform into a character but his turn as Barnum acts more as a friendly reminder that Hugh Jackman is one of the greatest screen presences of all time. Whenever he appeared on screen, regardless of the choppy script, there wasn't a moment where your attention wasn't entirely transfixed upon him. Sadly, despite the bravado performance gifted to us by Jackman, the actual telling of P.T. Barnum is very Hollywoodised and not strictly factually correct. Renowned for being a very controlling businessman, animal abuser and horrible to those that worked for him, The Greatest Showman decides to make a film that seemingly is based around selective truths regarding its hero. However, the fictitious nature of the film doesn't stop with its presentation of the lead as Zac Efron, despite another charming and entertaining performance given by the star, is entirely made-up for the sake of the film. Whereas some films can overcome this by still delivering a fully fleshed out and realised character despite never existing before then, Efron's character of Philip Carlyle, a former playwright who joins Barnum on his escapade, is glaringly false due to a ridiculously rushed character arc that serves as a major distraction for when the film decides to knuckle down to the story. He also becomes embroiled in a romance with Anne Wheeler, a trapeze act within Barnum's show, played by Zendaya. Unfortunately for them, the romance never clicked for me even though the chemistry was present. There wasn't any build up to the romance. It was thrust at us all of a sudden and, to the films detriment, meant that it became difficult to latch onto. This lack of development is apparent throughout the film with very little of the characters being given anything to do. It's really only Barnum who gets any sort of arc whereas potentially interesting characters such as Barnum's wife, played by the ever impressive Michelle Williams, and potential love rival, Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson) are pushed to the background and only brought to the forefront for a song or two.
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| The world's first disco ball. |
FACT: Zendaya did all of her own trapeze stunts in the film.
A phrase that sprung to mind upon leaving The Greatest Showman was that it was a lot of pomp but little circumstance. If you begin to pick apart the film, you'll soon realise that it has a fair few flaws and that it is far from being a perfect film. However, this isn't exactly a film that needs to be deeply critiqued or analysed for a deeper meaning. Everything you see is pretty much on the surface level and, aside from pushing its message of loving the body you're in and that people should accept you for who you are (as can be noted in the sure-to-be nominated, This Is Me), this film needs to be taken at face value only. From the get go, Gracey and his technical team catapult into the world of Barnum and present a highly extravagant and modern interpretation of the shows he created but the true selling point of The Greatest Showman and why, at the end of the day, I am recommending this film to be seen, is the astonishing soundtrack, provided by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, those responsible for the music of La La Land. This may sound like an exaggeration but within a week of seeing the film, I had listened to the songs so much that it quickly became a goal for me to learn every word. Status update: Complete. From the inspiring A Million Dreams, the toe-taping Come Alive, the heart-breaking Rewrite The Stars, the smashing From Now On and my personal favourite that I could listen to on continuous repeat, The Greatest Show. Each and every song has its own identity so it doesn't fade and blur into each other and by mixing a classic musical feel with a pop track, The Greatest Show's soundtrack stands above many other musicals that have come out in recent memory. In fact, just as I'm writing this very sentence, A Million Dreams is blasting out on my speakers. Witnessing Gracey's interpretations of Barnum's shows are also a visual feast from the dazzling costumes to the stunning production design, it's clear that Gracey has taken a clear inspiration from the style of Baz Luhrmann. The only technical aspect that the film struggles with is its editing. Suffering from a series of extensive reshoots that were helmed by Jackman's pal and Logan director, James Mangold, there are scenes in which it feels like two styles are conflicting with each other and substantial moments are missing. Scenes don't flow as well as they could and that leads me to believe that a fair amount was cut from this film which explains why scenes such as the showbiz discussion did not appear nor the effective line of dialogue from Jackman; "No one ever made a difference by being like anyone else". But as I referred to earlier, The Greatest Showman isn't asking its audience to delve deeper and pick it apart.
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| Ever since leaving the X-Men, Logan has been able to express his more artistic side. |
The Greatest Showman is a crowd-pleasing film that is sure to bring a smile to your face and a spring in your step. If you're looking for a film that explicitly details the life of P.T. Barnum and how he came to be, this is the wrong film for you. If you want to see an entertaining and family friendly musical that will have you singing and dancing all the way home, then this is the film for you.
My Verdict: 7.5/10
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