Directed By Thomas Kail

Starring – Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Leslie Odom Jr

The Plot – The story of America then, told by America now. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and show tunes, “Hamilton” has taken the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and created a revolutionary moment in theater; a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education. Captured at the Richard Rodgers Theater on Broadway in June 2016, the film transports its audience into the world of the Broadway show in a uniquely intimate way.

Rated PG-13 for adult language and some suggestive material

POSITIVES

– Pivotal pieces. I would usually take this section of the review to commend a couple of performances, but to do that here would be criminally unfair, as the entirety of this ensemble, lead and supporting, invest their two cents into making this the single greatest group effort of the year in cinema. Sure, Miranda as the titular character is a charismatic enigma who bounces off of emotions like they’re the very syllables that flow from his deliveries like vaulted exclamation points, and Daveed Diggs is always a good compliment to any film that requires his long-winded diatribes and frame worthy smile to infect you energetically for the benefit of the film. But this one belongs to every name on screen who bring original incarnations of these characters to life, and share such immaculate chemistry with one another that only comes when you’ve held a production together for so many years. Almost every historical character is seen through the eyes of minorities whose own American dreams are often lost in fog of the storytellers, but here able to therapeutically engage in the riches of power that is intentionally sold to people of all color, but rarely followed through on. Even the non-speaking dancers and props drivers add a precision to the timing that is terribly undervalued for anyone reviewing this film, and should be appreciated every bit as much as the part singers, part actors in the film that excel at both, and entertain us to no end with nearly three hours of physical energy.

– Imaginative production value. This is seen through the costume designs and set details that bring to life so many of these historical scenes with such simplicity that the minds of the audience are able to fully illustrate. There are no shortage of costume changes throughout the film, some colorfully exotic with the familiarity of the nation’s colors, and some intentionally drab to represent the same old ball and chain of a republic that has failed its visionaries. It all brings with it a style that is articulate for its faithfulness, yet contemporary for how the three-piece collections are put together. As for the sets, the rotating ground of the stage is big in illustrating the passage of time, as well as singling out two characters in the heat of the moment who quite nearly stop all space and matter surrounding them. In addition, the stairs overlapping the stage allows as many as thirty different actors on stage at any given time, all the while giving the audience plenty to lose themselves in with the chorus line of voices that decorate the stage with audible splendor through and through.

– Music creativity. That is the only way to define something so originally compelling, blending the worlds of hip hop and classical music seamlessly, and making this a musical unlike anything before it. I appreciate that the songs are these earworms full of emotional resonance that echoes off of us with stern intent, but the fact that they find a way to rhyme every line so rhythmically and precise, carrying this ball of nerves that could easily crash at any moment is impressive to say the least. One unique spin in the world of hip hop is to occasionally include a line or phrase of familiarity incorporated into the song as a clever wink-and-nod wall-breaker for the appreciative audience, blending the worlds of Mobb Deep and Thomas Jefferson in the way they were meant to be married. It makes for an enchanted experience of no fewer than fifty songs, and ties the story together with detailed exposition in musical form that keeps this from ever growing stale, prolonging Hamilton’s story in a way a theatrical film simply never could.

– Stage transcended. What Kail outlines with humbling direction is a consistency in art direction that preserves everything great about the theater experience, all the while highlighting it with a silver screen emphasis of stellar filmmaking that gives the five year old play new life to a new audience. Most of Kail’s charm relies in an editing scheme that moves as swiftly as the pioneers in frame, and the professional sound mixing preserves us with the best seat in the house while capturing everything in crisp, clear definition that I never trailed despite the speed of the deliveries. Beyond that, it’s the way Kail appreciates the audience aspect of the presentation, never dimming or silencing the audience reactions for the respect of the intensity in the heat of the moment. This challenges the actors depicted to bring their best for quite literally a paying audience, but beyond that inspires the first time audience beyond the screen with a theater experience that proves reactions are always best and influenced with a bigger audience. Kail takes everything great about the stage show, and ups the ante with an immersive presentation that adds the only thing needed for improvement for the experience; a pause button to pee.

– Mood setting lighting. Being an appreciator of the stage geek perspective, the subtlety of meaning in the film’s lighting scheme emits a feeling in these scenes emotionally that cements that change in the air where permanency gives way to history. The blues obviously trigger a feeling of sadness in the context of the characters experimenting grief or defeat in the eyes of an adversity. The reds illustrate anger or vengeance in a way that is the most evident when competing with the natural lighting scheme of the stage, popping up without subtlety or transition during the most evident time in the foreground of the story. Finally, the gold’s represent the ambition of Hamilton’s American dream. This one rarely comes up for what I feel is to convey the rarity of dreams coming true, but when it does it creates an aura about Hamilton that made him easy to understand in human terms despite his abundance of power. They each play into the heart of the story, and mirror the feelings of the cast with a colorful influence that blankets them with the emotions of the one with the mic.

– Dual challenge. This is seen through both Disney and the movie’s PG-13 rating, which is pushed in ways that don’t correspond with what both allow in 2020. What I love about this is it compliments the edgy side of Hamilton’s story, all the while refusing to mold itself for the cartoon mouse despite the fact that he paid 75 million for the show to be seen on the Disney Plus streaming platform. Sure, the F word is alleviated in ways that make it clearly obvious what was intended, but there’s no shortage of cursing sprinkled throughout this film that conjures this naturalistic quality to the dialogue and emotional climaxes of these stories of struggle, feeling mostly untouched to the integrity of the characters. It’s not something that I would let kids watch, but teens will appreciate a series of musical characters who aren’t corny while being forced to subdue their expressions.

– Educational and entertaining. As I previously mentioned, the lyrics of the songs convey a message of factual information meant to fill in the blanks of what’s visually taking shape on stage. It’s one thing to include this for the feat of dropping tasty rhymes in the context of the song, but all the more impressive when you consider everything discussed is a hundred percent factually established on previous biographies about Hamilton’s life. Miranda has definitely done his homework here, not only on the familiarity of the character, but also in the honest approach to his storytelling, which establish him as anything but a saint to a film that could’ve been a love-letter to his impact on a nation. He’s very much a flawed protagonist whose navigating through his heart often got him in trouble, but made him all the more appreciative for breaking conventions while playing the hand of spontaneity. It makes for a biographical telling that Alexander himself would appreciate, and is certainly one that is rooted in enough controversy and twists that begs for the silver screen.

– Stakes. This might be just me, but this is an especially difficult thing to establish in a play atmosphere that breaks concentration whenever your eyes wander anywhere other than the stage. “Hamilton” doesn’t have this problem, however, as the pot of consequence always lands on the characters. Sometimes they pay a little, but more times than not, they pay a lot, and it fleshes out the level of power that each of these men were playing with despite most of this story being delivered in comical context. One scene in particular that everyone who has seen the film knows immediately what I’m talking about, deals with a kid being forced to grow up too quickly and answering to a call that costs him everything. It makes for a startling realization of the dangers associated within a world long before law and order, and one that the film takes grave responsibility in illustrating as the only thing that halts the toe-tapping glee within its infectious energy and atmosphere.

– Ambitiously deserved run time. “Hamilton” clocks in at the two hour and forty minute mark, which may test audiences in ways they’re not conventionally used to with two hour or under cinema. For me, it was very much an allowance of time that I felt was entirely justifiable, and one that never strained or subdued the pacing that could easily be the film’s biggest challenge. Aside from being just about the titular character, this is a script that covers many different characters, dynamics, scandals, and even sociological commentary. It’s very much THE first rags to riches American dream story that inspired countless others to seek their own passport to ambition, and even in an experience that lasted nearly three hours, the consistency of the film’s entertainment factor didn’t draw fifty plus songs anywhere near this reality. It’s a film that I gladly look forward to watching again, and one of those rare occasions where time is just a sequence of numbers that don’t factor in to the abundance of knowledge deposited in the viewer’s hands.

NEGATIVES

– Clunky cinematography. Even with all of the positivity surrounding the film, Kail’s reserved camera work feels nervous at best with an overall shot composition that feels nervous to intrude on these masterfully recorded audio tracks. Many of the shots feel frustratingly misplaced, with some powerful exchanges shot in profile with half of the actor’s expressions lost in the back half of the stage, while other times the faulty character focus compromises where the attention of the story should rightfully be. Further vexing, the actors seem to be instructed to play towards the live audience in front of them, and not the ones who would watch it later. This creates a jarring distance for the at home viewer, that while synthetic with the stage feel of a Broadway musical, does limit the character investment a bit during their most trying times.

My Grade: 9/10 or A