Directed by Michael Gracey, Better Man follows the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams. Like most people, I had no idea who Robbie Williams was before seeing the trailers for this film and I was confused as to why he was being represented as a CGI ape in his own biopic. Upon its release though I began to learn a little bit more about him through the positive reviews and discussions about the film through fellow reviewers, which made me interested in giving it a go and seeing what the fuss was about. After getting the chance to catch it on the big screen during its limited availability, I ended up being really surprised by how great as well as refreshing this biopic turned out to be after numerous duds in recent years.
Better Man is a bold and eccentric musical blending Robbie Williams’ rollercoaster life with surreal fantasy that is filled with heartfelt performances, incredibly moving songs, stunning visuals, and fantastic commentary on fame and anxiety that make this film as unique and daring as the artist it’s based on. While it has some biopic cliches we have seen numerous times before it manages to have enough refreshing elements and genuine emotional impact that overshadows the flaws and makes it stand out amongst other biopics that failed to do anything as creative as this film.
I wasn’t familiar with most of the cast involved in this film but they very quickly won me over with their respective performances that all had incredible passion and emotion charging them up. Robbie Williams himself narrates the film and provides all the vocals for the songs while Jonno Davies does the voice and motion capture for Robbie Williams in his ape form. Both of them are fantastic in their respective roles when introducing us and allowing us to explore the life of Robbie Williams through a unique perspective. Robbie serves as an extremely humorous narrator and an excellent singer while Jonno Davies gets the audience emotionally invested into Robbie with a phenomenal performance that makes us feel a whole range of emotions, especially when giving an incredibly accurate portrayal of addiction, chronic depression, and anxiety.
The motion capture effects are on par with the amazing work we have seen in the modern Planet of the Apes films and Jonno Davies works his ass off to make it look creative and impactful, especially when given the freedom of the surreal premise and heightened reality of the film. The CGI ape isn’t just a gimmick to make the film stand out from other biopics but more to represent what Robbie sees himself as: a performing monkey for the world to enjoy while quietly suffering his own battles backstage and in his mind.
The supporting performances from the rest of the cast are all excellent too with Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, and Alison Steadman being major standouts as Robbie’s family who each have had a major impact on his life and are a crucial part of his journey in the film. Most musical biopics tend to keep the singer’s family as an afterthought in the story but Robbie’s family actually plays a large part in his story, which was interesting to see especially with the rocky relationship he has with his father.
The other performances are great too but I’ll admit because of how less developed they were in comparison to Robbie’s family I didn’t care about them as much and found it incredibly hard to keep track of them all in the film.
The narrative is very eccentric and energetic at its core as it embraces the chaos as well as the heightened reality of its setting, using all the cinematic techniques at its disposal to tell of Robbie’s rollercoaster life. While Robbie’s success is highlighted frequently in the film it is surprisingly brief as the narrative actually focuses mostly on Robbie’s struggles in all stages of his life, including his constant battle with depression and anxiety that is uniquely presented through incredible visuals.
Robbie’s life is full of many lows and I’m surprised by how much he was willing to share in this film in such an intimate matter, while most other musical biopics tend to lean into exploring the singer’s successes. It also has a fascinating commentary on fame and how it doesn’t necessarily make things better or solve all of life’s problems, which again surprised me given that most other musical biopics never really tackle that subject.
Despite the unique approaches this film takes in its narrative it does unfortunately suffer from the cliches that most musical biopics are known for. Granted some of these cliches may have been unavoidable given that these could have been things that actually happened in Robbie’s life but there are other cliches that I feel could have been completely avoided even if they don’t drag down the film hugely.
The technical elements of this film are superb as it features incredible dance sequences, gorgeous cinematography, bombastic visual effects, and an amazing array of songs sung by Robbie Williams that ended up being extremely catchy. This film is stunning to look at and to listen to from start to end, never looking plain or boring as most musical biopics do sometimes. The visual heightened reality portions of the film enhance the story while keeping things emotionally relatable for audiences, giving them more reasons to care about what Robbie has endured as well as feel involved in the intimate chaos of his life.
The last time I saw a biopic this visually and audibly beautiful was Rocketman, which is one of my favorite musical biopics of all time and shares a lot in common with this film. I honestly wish more musical biopics were as creatively bold as this film because this was such a refreshing and unique take that should be given a watch.
The odd premise presented in the trailers and the lack of knowledge of Robbie Williams may have put many people off from seeing this film, but I encourage everyone to give it a fair shot when they can because it truly is a surprising gem of a film and a great way to be introduced to Robbie Williams even if you know nothing about him. I’m going to give Better Man an A- = 93.
You can find more of my writing on instagram, and check out my channel on YouTube!