What’s Love Got to Do With it? (1993)

“I just believe that anything is possible. You know, anything. Now, it took me a long time to get Ike out of my system. And now that I’ve done that, I’m ready. I’m ready and I know what I want.  – Tina Turner

Number of Times Seen – 1 (2 Jul 2018)

Brief Synopsis – Biography of the turbulent rise to stardom of singer Tina Turner who’s abuse during her marriage to Ike Turner is renowned.

My Take on it – This is  the perfect example of a film that is highlighted by two great performances yet the overall story feels too lackluster due to the way things are presented to us.

Both Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne do wonderful jobs portraying the Turners (Tina and Ike respectively), and they both deservingly were nominated for Oscars for these performances.

Neither was among the bets of the nominees that year yet as they say, “it’s an honor to just be nominated.”

Tina’s character arc is great to watch because she changes so much and Ike’s portrayal is quite disturbing in his methods of control of those around him.

The music of this film is quite enjoyable to listen to and works really well in the context of a biography of a musician.

They do a great job showing the musical progression over the many years that this film takes place which helps with the atmosphere of it all.

This isn’t a very easy film to watch due to the way that it realistically presents many incidents of spousal abuse and its unfortunate that the story doesn’t flow well enough throughout.

Bottom Line – Movie which chronicles a great arc for its character yet overall seems quite lackluster along the way. Bassett is amazing as Turner and Fishburne does a very nice and disturbing job as Ike. Both deserved their Oscar nominations for these roles yet neither was anywhere near the best of the nominees. The music is great and shows the musical progression of these talented musicians quite well. Not an easy film to watch due to its portrayal of spousal abuse

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Angela Bassett recalls meeting Tina Turner for the first time so the singer could see for herself who would be playing her; when Tina appeared, she walked up to Angela, looked her up and down, smiled, and said out loud, ‘She’s perfect!’ (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

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