Musicians' biopics are more vulnerable, by the nature of their highly subjective selling point, than those of politicians or even sports stars, to summary dismissal by segments of the audience who are left cold by the protagonist's supposed appeal. A comparable problem faces the biopicist of any type of artist, of course - how can
Pollock, say, engage anyone who doesn't subscribe to the notion that a man splashing paint randomly can be considered a genius worthy of self-torment? And American '50s country music is hardly something that stakes claim to universal appeal outside the linedancing rhinestone Mid-West.
Still, Johnny Cash as a subject should be a figure who transcends these limitations. 'Tortured' should give genre cross-over potential, especially when put across by the perpetually excellent Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role. But it's dull, and overlong to boot. For two-and-a-half hours Mangold's film, constrained by the need to plod dutifully through 25+ years of Cash's life, just alternates between lumpy stage performances and episodes of Cash fucking himself up. Just buy an album and read a biography, if you're that interested.
5/10
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