{"id":155249,"date":"2025-01-11T17:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=507385"},"modified":"2025-01-11T17:36:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T17:36:29","slug":"dont-think-of-better-man-as-a-music-biopic-its-a-must-see-fantasy-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/11\/dont-think-of-better-man-as-a-music-biopic-its-a-must-see-fantasy-spectacle\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t think of Better Man as a music biopic \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s a must-see fantasy spectacle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For American audiences, at least, the movie musical Better Man<\/em> is a fairly hard sell. It\u2019s an odd-sounding project \u2014 a music biopic with the leading man replaced by a CG chimp<\/a>, built around the career of an international superstar and former boy-band member who\u2019s never really broken through in the States<\/a>. Americans don\u2019t share the rest of the world\u2019s fascination with pop singer Robbie Williams, in spite of his 14 chart-topping albums, regular presence in U.K. tabloids, and cheeky, viral-friendly music videos<\/a>. (Note: 107 million views on that video alone, and it isn\u2019t even close to his most-viewed hit, \u201cAngels.\u201d<\/a>) So the idea of a biopic might not have any instant appeal for U.S. viewers, even with that \u201cape protagonist\u201d gimmick adding some intrigue.<\/p>\n

But while the movie is drawn from Williams\u2019 life, it\u2019s still better to think of it as a fantasy feature. Director Michael Gracey previously turned P.T. Barnum\u2019s career into the rousing, ultra-popular musical movie<\/a> The Greatest Showman<\/em>, while glossing over or revising most of the reality of Barnum\u2019s life and work<\/a>. While Better Man<\/em> comes closer to the truth about Williams\u2019 history, it similarly plays with image and emotion over facts<\/a>, particularly when it comes to the music. Just as Gracey replaces Williams with an ape for a variety of reasons (more on that in a bit), he fictionalizes and broadens his subject\u2019s story. More significantly, though, he tells the story through fantasy sequences so bold, expressive, and visually startling that the effects dominate the movie. <\/p>\n

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Actor Jonno Davies plays Williams throughout the movie for mo-cap purposes, as he grows up as a swaggering, attention-hungry showoff in a tense working-class household. He gets his first shot of national fame as a teenager, when producer Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman) picks him for manufactured boy band Take That, which rockets to massive success. (Time later described the fandom around the band as \u201cthe 90s\u2019 version of Beatlemania.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The usual behind-the-scenes drama follows: depression, substance abuse, arrogance and alienation, a bottoming-out, a recovery and revival. But the basic beats don\u2019t matter as much as the way Gracey depicts them, through bravura sequences where Williams and his cohorts travel through a spinning, mutating fantasy version of London\u2019s Regent Street, or with zombie-like hordes of paparazzi attacking Williams underwater, in a set-piece straight out of Aquaman<\/em>\u2019s Trench fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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