Reviews

The film marketplace is crowded with celebrity biopics. So how can one stand out? By turning the subject into a CGI monkey, of course!

Given that Robbie Williams often considers himself “a performing monkey”, it makes sense that he’s depicted as a CGI chimpanzee in the film, directed by The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey.

As most biopics do, Better Man begins with Robbie’s childhood and progresses to his career beginnings in Take That and then onto his wildly successful solo career. However, unlike most films in the genre, it doesn’t try to cover his whole life and stops in the early 2000s.

To begin, let’s first get the monkey concept out of the way. The idea is ridiculous and it shouldn’t work, yet Gracey absolutely pulls it off.

Thanks to stunning visual effects and an impressive motion capture performance from Jonno Davies, the monkey version of Robbie is very convincing.

You get used to the concept within the first 10 minutes and it stops becoming a distraction, although it is still quite weird seeing a CGI chimpanzee taking drugs and having sex.

Rather than simply showing the hits at the chronologically correct moments in Robbie’s career, Gracey recontextualises the songs and uses them where they make the most sense emotionally. For example, the standout Rock DJ musical sequence involves the other members of Take That. This is obviously not correct but it works really well for the intention of the scene.

Overall, the film plays fast and loose with the timeline and presents pivotal moments out of order. For example, his Knebworth and Royal Albert Hall shows are the wrong way around. This might frustrate nit-picky fans but most viewers will simply embrace the narrative.

Williams is more involved in his biopic than subjects typically are and his interviews with Gracey form the basis of his cheeky chappie voiceover. This can often be a bad sign, as a celebrity might sanitise their story and only present themselves in a positive light. But Better Man breaks the mould by being so brutally frank about the singer’s mistakes and the downsides of his achievements, shining a light on his battles with depression, substance abuse and suicidal thoughts.

All in all, Better Man is an entertaining and staggeringly honest biopic about the highs and lows of fame. If anyone had the audacity to present themselves as a monkey, it’s Robbie Williams.

In cinemas from Boxing Day.

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