Better Man - Die Robbie Williams Story

There's something about the use of the monkey to characterise Robbie Williams that makes this quite a visceral watch at times. The film tells the story of the fairly turbulent rise of this "Take That" singer from boyhood exponent of Gilbert and Sullivan to a man on the right end of an £80 millions record deal. His dad (Steve Pemberton) went off to a football match whilst he was a child and never came back, and that left him with his mum "Janet" (Kate Mulvany) and adoring nan (Alison Steadman) living a pretty much hand to mouth existence and leaving him with a pretty solid foundation for his later emotional and trust issues. Unless you've lived on the moon these last twenty years, then you'll know much of what happens next. What does make this stand out a little more is the fact that Williams himself is behind the project and is in no way afraid to portray himself as a complete ass. His drink, drugs, tantrums and generally spoilt brattishness are laid bare with little, if any, attempt to sanitise. In some ways it reminded me of the recent "Amy" biopic and came hot on the heels of a recent viewing of "Easter Parade" (1948) with both serving, for completely different reasons, to augment the thrust of this story of a person who attained great stardom, success and wealth - and ultimately ended up with addictions galore and few, real, friends amidst a sea of hangers-on and parasites all too eager to selfishly cash in on the fame of a lad who started aged just fifteen. Of course it's not exactly balanced, and I'm sure the gospel according to Robbie might not be quite how others see their own behaviour (or his) but there is an honesty to this that brings home just how ruthless the music business is and at just how fickle fame can be when those we idolise lose their lustre. It doesn't do it any harm that many of his solo songs work well through big screen audio with some classy string arrangements and powerful vocals to remind us that, unlike many of the largely forgotten "Take That" singles, his music - especially the stuff he made with Guy Chambers - is the stuff we will really long remember. It's not for the faint hearted, but still well worth a watch.

This year, I've watched some pretty intense movies, but one that really hit me hard emotionally is about an ape? Well, it's actually about Robbie Williams, who's humorously called himself a "performing monkey" in interviews, saying he feels "a little less evolved" than others. The film dives into his rise to fame as the youngest and most audacious member of Take That, showcasing his wild antics and well-known struggles with drugs and partying.

"Better Man" explores the huge gap between how the public views the pop star and how he sees himself, highlighting how his inner battles often overshadow the success he fought so hard to achieve.

Directed by Michael Gracey, who also brought us "The Greatest Showman," this film features one of my all-time favorite songs: I DID IT MY WAY! You won't find another music biopic like "Better Man," no matter how much you know about Robbie. It's incredibly personal!

After experiencing this incredible film, Robbie Williams has truly earned the title of THE LEGEND, whether as an ape or as a human!

Better Man (2024) is a movie I first heard about from Fantastic Fest back in September and I thought that this was the most ridiculous thing I've heard about all year long. Then I watched the movie and it kicked a lot of ass.

Positives for Better Man (2024): Now on paper, this is a movie that shouldn't have worked for me and somehow the filmmakers actually got me to care about the story of Robbie Williams as a CGI ape via Planet of the Apes. Yes, I know it sounds like I made that stuff up, but I swear that this is a real movie. There are moments where I cared about what was happening in the story. I also have to give props to the filmmakers for making this a fantasy musical because as wacky as the movie is, everything about it worked for me. And finally, this movie is a perfect example of how to take a ridiculous premise for any movie and actually get audiences to care about the story and the characters.

Overall, Better Man (2024) is one of the biggest surprise for in 2024 and I am so happy that I love this movie. This is one of the movies that I will be recommending to people the most.

An absolutely unhinged, emotional, and impactful cinematic achievement. The visual creativity shines through with the hardcore drug-induced sequences having a touch of a fantasy element while unapologetically exploring the mental health of Williams.

It offers something new and refreshing, giving audiences a different perspective on this whole biopic formula. It becomes very bleak and explicit, not afraid from showing the reality of fame, parental abandonment, depression, addiction and self-harm.

You're probably thinking it's just another biopic, why even bother, they all have the same cliches-but everything depicted actually happened to Williams, so you can't compare it to other films that make stuff up to enhance the story dramatically. He went through EVERYTHING. He even described the whole viewing experience as the equivalent of "going to therapy."

Although there are familiar tropes, it dives deeper into the thematic material more than you'd expect and has the balls to do what other biopics can't.

The biggest controversy surrounding the film was the CGI monkey, but its presence feels so seamlessly integrated that you hardly give it a second thought.

This is the first and last time we will ever get something like this so enjoy it while it lasts. Extremely experimental yet so captivating with many moments which hit you hard in many ways.

People online who don't know who Robbie Williams is are saying "oh, he did the Finding Nemo and Cars 2 credits songs and made a 5 second TikTok song, why does this random British musician who hasn't been popular since the 2000's need some biopic?". Every single comment section for a promotional video for this film includes a comment similar to that where I just get furious. America isn't the only country in the world. Honestly, most of us didn't know what Hamilton was until it went on Disney+.

Robbie Williams' lyrics have mentally pushed me through the last few months. He knows what people are going through and isn't afraid to acknowledge the silence in our lives. Specifically Come Undone, Feel, and Something Beautiful, are the ones that define me. These songs have been out forever, and I'm so glad that younger audiences, like myself, who go out to see this, can discover such material.

This ain't no normal biopic. Go see it and give it a chance. You will not regret it, trust me. Maybe you weren't expecting to see it, but surprises like going out to watch it can have such an impact, more than you know-just like it did on me. I wasn't keen on seeing this. Not at all. Little did I know, it changed me to become a better man.

Better Man is how biopics should be told if their subject is still around as it tells Robbie Williams story from his perspective in every aspect, from his own narration infused with boat loads of northern charm to the biggest swing it takes in the form of the CGI ape taking centre stage as a perfect metaphor for the way he sees himself. It's refreshingly honest and deeply personal with big Rocketman vibes and a high energy it sustains from the moment it arrives.

This is a story about the perils of being addicted to the spotlight and the emotion that comes attached to it is only enhanced by the performance capture and visual effects employed to bring this less evolved Robbie Williams to life. It's not like most other lead performances in biopics since Williams himself is present in the narration and songs, so it becomes a case of his work and Jonno Davies' seamless performance moving as one.

Michael Gracey's direction confirms that he's got a gift for directing musicals by making them as visually dynamic as possible. The musical numbers are so inventive and do some truly insane things that work beautifully because of how they help to tell the story and communicate everything Robbie is struggling with as it goes along. There's a lot of speedy transitions contained in them as well which really helps to maintain the energy.