Directed By Brian Gibson; Screenplay By Kate Lanier; Starring Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Vanessa Bell Calloway, and Jenifer Lewis.
Earlier this year, I caught the national tour of the unrelated Tina - The Tina Turner Musical. While I enjoyed it overall, one problem I had was that the storytelling mainly went through some of the major bullet points of Tina Turner's career. What I appreciated most about What’s Love Got to Do with It on this rewatch was that it kept the focus on Tina’s tumultuous relationship with Ike Turner. Which is also something worth appreciating about this compared to the average biopic.
Angela Bassett successfully dives into some rich dramatic material as Tina Turner. She may not do her own singing in this movie, but it’s not that important to me when watching a musician biopic. Even though it can be a nice bonus, especially when done well as was the case with Taron Egerton in Rocketman. With that being said, Tina’s vocals do blend seamlessly with Bassett’s lip syncing. The latter’s overall performance is also well matched by Laurence Fishburne, who is quite charismatic as Ike while also nailing the abusive nature of him.
What’s Love Got to Do with It may not be ‘Simply the Best’ (a song that ironically wasn’t included here) when it comes to musician biopics nor movies in general. Brian Gibson’s directing isn’t much to write home about and Kate Lanier’s screenplay does follow similar troupes here and there. Although the story has a clear focus and it’s told with warts and all. So tonally, this film is more in line with Rocketman than Bohemian Rhapsody with how their subject is portrayed. Nothing’s sanitized, the flaws are explored to great detail. After all, Ike & Tina Turner did not have a PG-13 relationship.
Rating: 3.5/5
Earlier this year, I caught the national tour of the unrelated Tina - The Tina Turner Musical. While I enjoyed it overall, one problem I had was that the storytelling mainly went through some of the major bullet points of Tina Turner's career. What I appreciated most about What’s Love Got to Do with It on this rewatch was that it kept the focus on Tina’s tumultuous relationship with Ike Turner. Which is also something worth appreciating about this compared to the average biopic.
Angela Bassett successfully dives into some rich dramatic material as Tina Turner. She may not do her own singing in this movie, but it’s not that important to me when watching a musician biopic. Even though it can be a nice bonus, especially when done well as was the case with Taron Egerton in Rocketman. With that being said, Tina’s vocals do blend seamlessly with Bassett’s lip syncing. The latter’s overall performance is also well matched by Laurence Fishburne, who is quite charismatic as Ike while also nailing the abusive nature of him.
What’s Love Got to Do with It may not be ‘Simply the Best’ (a song that ironically wasn’t included here) when it comes to musician biopics nor movies in general. Brian Gibson’s directing isn’t much to write home about and Kate Lanier’s screenplay does follow similar troupes here and there. Although the story has a clear focus and it’s told with warts and all. So tonally, this film is more in line with Rocketman than Bohemian Rhapsody with how their subject is portrayed. Nothing’s sanitized, the flaws are explored to great detail. After all, Ike & Tina Turner did not have a PG-13 relationship.
Rating: 3.5/5