Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of the previous year's music bio-pic involving an actor embodying a famous musician. It was good and all, but in the end I wasn't satisfied. I was a fan of Ray Charles--not so much a fan of the film. With "Walk The Line", I was also a fan of Johnny Cash' music, and "Walk the Line" is in effect a much better film. Don't be
fooled, though. Unlike "Ray", this film is less about Cash' rise to fame, and more about his love affair with the love of his life June Carter who he'd fall in love with while in tour. Producers and writers saw the potential for composing such a sweet and simple tale of two people falling in love, and it's played with enough effect to keep audiences watching. Of course, we all know the end result, but it's still a good movie.

And it's just a marvel watching talented actors do their shit on-screen. Not--actual shit, just more--well you know what I'm talking about. "Walk the Line" chronicles the beginning of "The Man in Black", his struggle to obtain his own musical persona, and his inevitable meeting with June Carter, an already established country singer who he falls head over heels for instantly. Mangold's direction is thankfully not as keen on showboating as "Ray" was. And much like the former, Cash has unresolved childhood issues which affect his relationships with women. Robert Patrick gives a great performance as Johnny's overbearing and strict father who likes to knock his son down a peg, and it's alluded that he blamed him for his oldest son's death at the end of a circular saw.

"Walk The Line" has a knack for being riveting, and the fact that it focuses on Cash, really does individuate it from other film biographies. Joaquin Phoenix gives an excellent performance as always this time channeling Cash. Though he doesn't much look like him, he adapts his mannerisms, his deep low voice, and even sings like him. Phoenix is simply  shockingly accurate in his vocal depiction of Cash, playing guitar and singing all on his own, much like Witherspoon who gives a charming performance as June Carter. Her presence in the film is compelling and her performance is very sympathetic, and she sports a very good singing voice. "Walk the Line" is a less a display of bravado for Cash, and more the telling of a sweet simple but complicated love story of two people whom were in love until the very end. Corny, but true.

I just wish "Walk the Line" wasn't like the rest of the bio-pics that resort to utter clichés. There are your usual turmoil's, the musician becoming a victim to his fame, and these bio-pics always paint these musicians as rebels from the get go. Though, it may have been true with Cash, the formula was already typical and tired, so it was far from compelling or thrilling. "Walk the Line" fails to capture Cash's drug habit, his effect on music, his impact on pop culture, his knack for being difficult, and just displays too much focus on the romance, and not enough focus on the man. I wanted an insight in to his journeys, and concerts, his experience with his music, his transformation and whatnot, yet instead we're subjected to a film that focuses more on Cash's romance with June. It would be interesting to watch, but... predictable. Cash married June, they were married for many, many years, June died, Johnny died four months later, they died an old couple. It's all so damn predictable. So why should we watch this just to see what we already know? Why not delve more in to Cash and focus on the unfocused aspects of his life? How about striving for originality? "Walk the Line" is awfully melodramatic at times with "emotional" moments that really never hit the mark. It lacked any real energy or nuance within its story and it wasn't the kinetic ode to the man in black I was hoping for.

It's a fun, well acted, and well directed piece of filmmaking with a great sweet story, and wonderful music performances, but it's also pretty damn disappointing as well. It's more of a romance than a bio-pic, and it's just so predictable.

• Vivian Cash' daughter left the private screening halfway in tears distraught over her mother's depiction as an over-bearing, cold, and un-supporting wife. She says in reality Vivian was sweet, loving, and very supporting of Cash's musical career. Vivian left him because of Cash's drug dependence, and not because of his career.