As is often the case with biopics we get a look at the life of Johnny Cash from childhood, thankfully the film does not over dwell in this area just delivering what is important, such as the accidental death of his brother and the deteriorating relationship between Johnny and his father. "Walk the Line" then gets into the meat of the film and concentrates on Johnny's rise to fame, his decline into drug addiction and his relationship with fellow country singer June Carter. What the film does for me is to not compartmentalize any of these but keeps all 3 areas flowing effortlessly into one compelling story. But having said that, you would have thought the film would have predominantly been about Johnny's music, where in fact I would say the main focus is his relationship with June Carter. By doing this the film does plays like a love story and it is in all honesty one of the best love stories I have seen. There is nothing cheesy or cliché about it, and the fact that even some of the more surprising moments are based on fact makes it all the more amazing. Leading on from that, one of main niggles with biopics is the huge amount of poetic licence film makers use to spice up a storyline, thankfully "Walk the Line" does stay extremely close to the truth using Johnny Cash's own book as the source and also having his son John Carter Cash as one of the producers.

Here's an interesting fact about "Walk the Line", Johnny and June actually picked Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon to play themselves and I have to say they were right to do so. I am fortunate enough to have seen footage of Johnny Cash from his younger days and not only does Phoenix look spookily like him, but he has learned all the mannerisms of the musician, from the uneasy guitar technique to the slight snarl and most importantly the sound of his voice. Often a choice of actor can ruin a biopic because they are unable to let go of their ego and fully immerse themselves in a character, but Phoenix is so impressive that I feel he was robbed when he didn't win an Oscar for his performance despite being nominated. Reese Witherspoon is equally impressive and unlike Phoenix did win an Oscar for her performance. Now I will admit that June Carter was not a person I was overly familiar with before the film but since watching it have learned a lot more about and indeed Witherspoon has done her work in learning how to be her character. What really stood out for me is the interactions between Phoenix and Witherspoon and you are completely convinced that they are not only the legendary couple but that they are falling in love with each other. Whilst Phoenix and Witherspoon quite rightly are the centre of attention, the film is made all the better for having a very good supporting cast. For me there are numerous performances which are spot on from, Waylon Payne as Jerry Lee Lewis and Ginnifer Goodwin as Vivian Cash, but the one which stands out the most is that of Robert Patrick as Johnny's father Ray. Robert Patrick is a man I always associate with "Terminator 2" and to some extent "X Files" so to see him in a role like this was something new for me. His characterisation of Ray is brilliant as you get a real sense that he is a working man who detests his own son for reasons which are explained in the film.

Certificate: 12
Duration: 124 mins
Year of Release: 2005
Genre: Biopic, Drama, Music, Romance

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick, Dallas Roberts, Dan John Miller, Larry Bagby, Shelby Lynne, Tyler Hilton, Waylon Payne