At a point in The
Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum
tells a grumpy reviewer that his show could give “joy to the most
joyless of critics”. Nice try, mate.
The Partially Educated Review
When it comes to pure Hollywood actors working today, I struggle to
think of one with more versatility than Hugh Jackman. Whatever
film you put him in, he will always give it his all and usually pulls
it off. He blew me away with Logan
(a performance so grizzled it made the
bear from The Revenant
look like Winnie the Pooh) but, some 9 months later, he's back into musical
territory with the “true” story of circus mastermind P.T. Barnum.
It's a performance filled with so much twinkling teeth he may as well
be John Barrowman's bastard offspring, but he remains an asset that
The Greatest Showman greatly
benefits from. Even if he's just as infected by all the glitz.
There isn't an element of the film that doesn't feel rampantly
stage-managed. Even the most destitute of scenes feels like it's
populated by perfectly placed bits of dirt. As a stage production,
The Greatest Showman would probably succeed to a fantastic
degree and make an absolute killing and I think they know that. It's
not that it doesn't feel cinematic or suffer from a lack of belonging
in cinemas, but at times you do get the impression that its heart and
desire lies in a different type of venue.
The positives are there though. It's
not just Jackman's performance that wins over. Zendaya, in
particular, feels like a talent to watch. Her role in Spider-Man:
Homecoming was one I would have happily seen more of and I look forward to seeing how her
career develops. Rebecca Ferguson oozes seductive charm and Michelle
Williams is always watchable (if a little saddled with the “wife”
role). Zac Efron is perhaps a little boring, but he's spent the last
few years knowing that simply stepping into the room will cause a
certain area of the demographic to instantly swoon and its made him a
lot more successful than I am so fair play to him. Most of Barnum's
acts also suffer from a lack of true character development, generally
there to back-up the songs. Keala Settle's bearded lady role gets a
fairer scoop than most, but she's only a couple of jazz hands away
from making Chicago seem
like The Driller Killer by
comparison.
This is, of course, a musical, so it
stands to rights that I mention the songs and, come on, you must know
what you're letting yourself in for. If
your musical pleasures are derived from the likes of Slayer, it's safe to say this probably won't be your scene. If, however, the idea of Steps
going on tour gets you excited, then know that you're part of the
problem... you'll probably like these songs though. They're well put
together and they're catchy as hell. For me though, when 2 hours had
passed after I'd seen the film and This Is Me
was still going round my head on a constant loop, I couldn't help but
start Googling lobotomy clinics.
The Greatest Showman is a
film for a very specific audience. That audience will lap this up
(looking at Twitter, they aren't hard to find) and people of
different tastes may find it fairly interminable. For a first-time
director Michael Gracey demonstrates skill behind the camera, but he
could probably do with removing one of the glossy strings from his
bow in future. As such, any references to the shadier side of Barnum
are fleeting at best and if you think they'll touch on his
profiteering from blackface minstrelsy or that whole business with
animal captivity, you're kidding yourself. There's a dirtier film to
be made about the man (one that I'd probably enjoy more), but I'd be
lying if I said I disliked this.
SIX out of 10
