Higher Man, the biopic about British pop star Robbie Williams, has been completely delighting the critics. The movie, by which the singer is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee, presently holds a 92% recent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based mostly on 77 critiques. That is considerably higher than one other huge musical biopic launched the identical day, A Full Unknown, which solely has a 79% approval ranking amongst critics. Higher Man has shortly grow to be one of the acclaimed music biopics of all time. Simply evaluate it to the scores of latest music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody (60%), Rocketman (89%), Elvis (77%), Again to Black (35%), and lots of others, and it is clear that Higher Man is, nicely, higher. It helps that it is helmed by the director of The Biggest Showman.
When you’re unfamiliar with Robbie Williams, that is shocking, however he is most well-known in the UK. After his time within the band Take That, he went on to grow to be one of many greatest solo musicians in UK historical past. 13 of his 14 studio albums have reached #1 within the UK charts, and he is garnered a report 18 Brit Awards. He was voted The Biggest Artist of the Nineties by the UK Music Corridor of Fame, and broke a Guinness World File for promoting essentially the most tickets in a single day (1.6 million). The plot synopsis for Higher Man reads as follows:
‘Higher Man’ relies on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and noteworthy resurgence of British pop celebrity Robbie Williams, one of many best entertainers of all time. Below the visionary path of Michael Gracey (‘The Biggest Showman’), the movie is uniquely advised from Robbie’s perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie’s journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, by means of to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all of the whereas confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can carry.
MovieWeb’s Julian Roman wrote in his glowing evaluate of Higher Man, “British pop celebrity Robbie Williams will get a uncooked, dazzling, lengthy however exceedingly intelligent musical biopic in Higher Man, which sees him portrayed as a CGI, motion-captured chimpanzee from boyhood by means of tumultuous stardom. The rationale why turns into apparent because the narrative progresses. Director/co-writer Michael Gracey infuses the movie with a daring inventive imaginative and prescient that provides a refreshing new tackle a recognized commodity.” The evaluate continues:
“Tales of rags-to-riches celebrities fighting habit and despair are commonplace Hollywood fodder. Higher Man addresses these themes whereas Williams’ narrates the painful fact behind glitz and glamour. Fame is a seductive narcotic that fuels our worst impulses. A dream come true can simply grow to be a nightmare.”
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Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com writes of the movie, “It is brash, in your face, and on the nostril. However that is Robbie Williams. May a biopic of him play out some other approach? C’mon. Let him entertain you.” A number of different reviewers use the phrase “ridiculous” to explain Higher Man, together with Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Instances, who states, “When you might tear your eyes away from the display screen sufficient to verify a stopwatch, not one minute goes by and not using a flourish that’s both humorous, ridiculous, beautiful or emotional.”
Higher Man is in restricted theaters now, with a wider launch scheduled for January 10, 2025. The movie costars Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, and Kate Mulvany. Gracey co-wrote the script with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson.
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The Chimp Face Concept Got here From Director Gracey
Why painting a celebrity singer with a chimp’s face? In response to director Gracey, he got here up with the thought after a number of conversations with Williams. He advised the BBC:
There have been a whole lot of musical biopics… I wished to return at this with a distinct lens. Very often Rob will say, ‘I am identical to a performing monkey’ or ‘I am up the again like a performing monkey.’ It simply sparked this concept of, we have got this opportunity to inform this story, not from the attitude of how we see Rob, however how he sees himself. And so I pitched the thought to Rob. I mentioned, ‘You already know, should you have been to be an animal, how would you see your self?’
Williams first responded that he was a lion, however with assist from Gracey, he was in a position to see the person/monkey connections, and was delighted on the thought.
Higher Man relies on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and noteworthy resurgence of British pop celebrity Robbie Williams, one of many best entertainers of all time. Below the visionary path of Michael Gracey (The Biggest Showman), the movie is uniquely advised from Williams’ perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie’s journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, by means of to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all of the whereas confronting the challenges that fame and success can carry.