Better Man - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Better Man



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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] Movie
Growing up in a musical family (even if my parents were a BIT conservative about movie choices), I was immersed in 80s and 90s pop music. And at the head of the class were artists like Bob Dylan, Transvision Vamp, and, of course, Robbie Williams. He was the man, the myth, the crazy pop rock star, and of course, the one the girls all swooned over. So you can bet your bottom dollar I was interested in watching a biopic about the iconic pop star, only to run into a weird hitch. The powers that be (whether that be Robbie, Paramount, or whomever) decided that it would be best not to cast another actor to play the iconic front man/singer. Instead, they chose to turn it into a biopic meets fantasy flick with Robbie voicing himself, but having the visual character on screen be a life-size CGI monkey that looks a BIT too much like Caesar from Planet of the Apes for comfort. Initially, I was super excited about the film coming out last year, but the whole fantasy element had me putting the brakes on things and holding out for a physical release to check out instead of spending $15 for the theaters. Now, here it is, and I feel partially vindicated for skipping out on the movie, but also partially sad I didn’t. As this would have been an absolute ball with a packed theater full of music fans…..that is….if anyone actually went to see the film in theaters.

Judging by the box office haul, a lot of people thought the same way as I did, being that the film amassed a whopping $22.4 million worldwide on a reported budget of $110 million BEFORE advertising. Effectively making it one of the biggest box office bombs of the last 10 years, to my knowledge (percentage-wise). Paramount put a TON of effort into the production, with Robbie Williams turning in a fairly solid performance, but people just couldn’t seem to get past the idea of Robbie as a gigantic CGI monkey.

But I digress, for all of its box office failures, Better Man is NOT a horrible film. It’s not even a bad film. It just swung for the fences and whiffed terribly in terms of marketing and broad audience appeal for this era of filmmaking. To take a cue from the special features, Better Man is told from Robbie Williams' point of view, in how he saw himself, as a circus monkey performing for an audience. The film starts out in the early 80s, with Robbie as a young boy growing up in England. Like me, he grew up in a musical family with his father listening to Sinatra and inspiring the young lad to get interested as well. At 16, he became a member of the boy band “Take That” only to unexpectedly shoot to the top of the charts during their infamous reign during the 90s. And then, the sky was the limit as Robbie shot out on his own and became one of the most talked-about pop artists of the late 90s and early 2000s.

Director Michael Gacey (The Greatest Showman) takes elements from some of the big biopics (Rocketman, Walk the Line, Bohemian Rhapsody) and changes things up a bit by adding in some fantastical elements (outside of Robbie being a literal CGI monkey on screen) as he takes us through the highlights of Robbie’s illustrious rise, as well as his addictions and relationship strife. Musical elements take us through the key elements of his life, weaving a fairly entertaining tapestry of William’s largest hits, as well as his deepest lows. But at its core, the movie seems to focus on Robbie’s unease and self-loathing due to his psychological issues. And that is really where the film shines. The music is great, the fantastical bits are solid, but it’s those deep dives into his psychological trauma that actually engages the audience. In a world where we’ve seen a million biopics about a million singers, this one feels REAL when diving into those waters. Look through all of the trappings, all of the songs, and the CGI, and you see a picture of a man torn apart by his issues to the point where he becomes a caricature of a human being. Unlike many biopics before it, the film does not sanitize or whitewash all of the flaws and demons of the titular character. Instead, it dives headfirst into them, showing all of the damage, all of the pain, and all of the suffering that this very real person experienced (from his point of view) throughout his career. And that is really how the film stands on its own. It’s not perfect. There’s plenty of overly done CGI, not enough time on transitions, and it’s overly frenetic to the point where I had to watch a couple of scenes a few times to catch what was going on. But, it’s still a surprisingly entertaining film that sadly got overlooked due to some really poor marketing and directing decisions (CGI monkey for one, as cool as it kinda was in theory).




Rating:

Rated R for drug use, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity, and some violent content.




4K Video: Video:

While shot with digital Arri Alexa cameras, Better Man has been given a very textured and weathered look that reminds me of 1970s and early 80s budget films. It’s grainy looking, raw, and while the primary colors can be quite saturated, they are given this dulled tone to them. Not to mention the fact that this is a brutally dark film. Which, coupled together, make for a very “varied” experience, with some scenes looking fantastic, and others having some issues with the black levels and the heavy fake grain. Colors are burnished and rather bright, with tons of amber and red overtones. But that dark shroud acts as a double-edged sword. On one hand, it reminds me of those fantastic gangster films of the 80s, but simultaneously works to rob visual detail from the screen. But overall, this is still a good-looking 4K UHD presentation that handles the visual quirks a lot better in 4K than the 1080p variant.







Audio:

While the video may look a bit abnormal, the audio is anything but what you would expect from a musical biopic. The film’s Atmos track is full of spice and energy, taking full advantage of the arena pop star trappings and really blasting us with that music. Vocals are crisp and clear during the more talk-heavy portions of the film, and don’t get drowned out when the raucous melodies crop up. Thematically, everything fits together quite well. The movie is an unmitigated ball of energy and hyperactivity, and the sound stage falls right in line with that way of thinking. It’s big, bold, brash, and every surround channel in the room is humming with nonstop energy. This is just perfect.







Extras:

• Let Me Entertain You: The Making of Better Man — Director Michael Gracey and star Robbie Williams provide an in-depth look behind the vision and production of the film with additional insight from the cast and crew.
•Monkey Business: The VFX — Meet the visual effects team of Wētā FX as they delve into the process of using cutting-edge technology to bring Better Man to life

Final Score: ​

Better Man is way better than it has any right to be, especially if you were going in influenced only by the trailer. It’s got plenty of heart, has a great cast, but sadly, it just couldn’t seem to find an audience. Paramount has done a bang-up job putting it in their prestigious “Paramount Presents” lineup, with a nice 4K combo pack that sports a great video encode and an awesome Atmos experience. For all of its box office foibles, I wonder if this is the year that the film makes a splash on home video, or maybe it will fade off into the sunset as one of the weirder and more obscure musician biopics. Who knows? All I know is that it was one of the more surprising watches of the year so far, and it certainly deserves to at least be checked out now that it’s here. Decent Watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany
Directed by: Michael Gracey
Written by: Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole, Michael Gracey
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish DD 5.1, English DVS
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 135 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 13th, 2025

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will look for this.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Watched it on Kaleidescape several months ago when it first dropped there. This is exactly my kind of weird risk for a movie. I love the stuff that makes you wonder how this decision was made. Honestly, I thought going into the movie that we'd learn some inside story why the main character was depicted as a monkey, but apparently it was just kind of the obvious boy band thing. Regardless, I loved it. I wish there was a larger music selection, though. If I recall, there were really only a few tracks used, and they were reused throughout.

Weird that he was such a huge star overseas, but my brain still immediately goes to Robbie Robertson when someone mentions Robbie Williams. Even after seeing the movie.