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3 stars
18
River deep and mountain high, sang Tina Turner in one of her greatest hits.
That was about how low she sank and how high she had to climb to survive and escape a violent marriage to her stage partner, Ike Turner, from which her music was the only relief.
Angela Bassett mimes superbly to Turner's songs and Laurence Fishburne is excellent as Ike, moving convincingly from smooth Romeo with deep bass singing voice into drug-sniffing, short-fused monster - and ageing believably at the same time.
Yet the strength of the performance is that he never quite loses all of our sympathy.
Bassett conveys well the transformation in Tina when she takes to the stage, and it was a mistake for Turner to come on as herself at the end; this is rightly Bassett's show (audiences cheered when she hits back for the first time in 15 years) and it's wrong to deprive her shining performance of its final bow.
Both stars were Oscar-nominated. Khandi Alexander, from CSI: Miami, has a supporting role.
3:22PM, Aug 26, 2009
1 of 6Angela Bassett plays soul legend Tina Turner in this biopic which follows her rise to stardom, break from her abusive husband Ike (Laurence Fishburne) and subsequent stellar success as a solo star. Co-written by Rolling Stone editor Kurt Loder, this landed two Oscar nominations largely thanks to Bassett's capture of Turners on-stage energy. Up there with Walk The Line and Ray as far as biopics go. Trivia: Fishburne and Ike Turner accidentally met up when the latter turned up as his old home during filming to sign autographs.
