You might think we’ve come undone to call Better Man one of the best Movies of the year, but we guarantee you’ll feel the same and agree that it’s something beautiful when it comes to entertain you in cinemas this Christmas.
We’ll stop with the Robbie Williams references now in case you think we’re monkeying around because Better Man genuinely is brilliant.
A fantastic (and fantastical) spin on a classic rise-and-fall biopic where the fact that its subject is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee – and everybody else is a human – is one of the least remarkable aspects of it.
You won’t have seen anything quite like it and whether you’re a fan of Robbie Williams or not, it’s absolutely worth a cinema trip over the festive period.
Let’s start with the chimpanzee of it all. We get that you might think it’s just a gimmick, but that would be to downplay both Weta FX’s always-excellent work and the superb performance of Jonno Davies, who plays Robbie Williams via motion-capture.
Williams might provide the movie’s narration and sing on all the musical numbers, but it’s Davies and the VFX work that portray the spirit and emotion. What’s most impressive is that you forget you’re even watching a chimp – apart from one truly wild Knebworth sequence – as it all just feels so real.
The same could be said of the story being told. Too often, biopics are shorn of any edge due to the subject being directly involved. Here though, despite (or perhaps because of) Williams’ involvement, there are no corners cut. It’s often raw and dark, open on the challenges of fame and the star’s struggles with it.
It means that even when the plot structure is a conventional biopic one (Williams has to hit his lowest before the inevitable revival), the honesty sets it apart from most biopics. Better Man is most comparable to Rocketman in terms of recent biopics, not afraid to show its subject at his worst.
Or as the star puts it himself in the movie’s witty and knowing narration, he often comes across as a “f**king twat”.
What Better Man also has in common with that Elton John biopic are some terrific musical numbers. Not every classic Robbie Williams hit is covered here, but the ones that feature are reimagined to fit the story rather than having a song just wedged in for the sake of it.
‘Rock DJ’ becomes a showstopping ode to Take That finally breaking the mainstream as a huge dance number breaks out on Regent Street. ‘She’s the One’ starts as a meet-cute between Williams and Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) before morphing into a romantic but heartbreaking recap of their entire relationship.
With The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey behind the camera, the musical sequences are delivered with invention and panache. At a time when Wicked is being accused by some as being too drab and flat, Better Man showcases how theatrical musical numbers should be delivered.
There’s style here in both the framing, transitions and editing, but it’s all done with storytelling at its heart. Take, for instance, a gorgeous transition in ‘Angels’ that sees Robbie recall watching TV with his nan (a perfectly-cast Alison Steadman) in a reflection on the screen.
You might not think you’ll cry in a Robbie Williams biopic where he’s portrayed by a chimpanzee, but you will. Honestly, it might even happen during the opening ‘Feel’ number as young chimp Robbie watches his father (Steve Pemberton) abandon him.
During Better Manyou’ll come to the realisation that there really was no other way to tell the story of Robbie Williams. He might appear on screen as a chimpanzee, but the movie is just as irreverent and self-aware, while still being honest and emotional, as the star himself.
Most importantly, Better Man aims to capture the theatrical rock-star charisma of its subject, which it does in tremendous fashion.
Encore please.
Better Man is released in UK cinemas on December 26.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
