Hamilton (2020)

“Burr, we studied and we fought, and we killed for the notion of a nation/We now get to build for once in your life/Take a stand with pride/I don’t understand how you stand to the side.” – Alexander Hamilton

Number of Times Seen – 1 (6 Jul 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Stage play musical about the life and career of one of the founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton

My Take on it – This is a filmed version of the stage play that came out 5 years ago that became such a hit.

I have been quite interested in seeing this play for years and am glad that I finally got the opportunity to do so even if it isn’t an adaptation to the screen.

The story is quite fascinating to watch unfold and they are able to present things in such a glamorous way that it all works so well.

The way that the music, songs and choreography are mixed together helps make this such a great experience because it manages to stay both interesting and fun the whole way through.

I’m not the biggest fan of Hip-Hop music, but the way they present things here works really well and despite a few initial reservations about the way that they portray the founding fathers, they manage to put this all together in such an enjoyable way.

Hamilton’s life story is pretty unknown and this play/movie allows us to learn so much about how integral and important he was to the founding of our country sometimes in ways we never might have expected.

The songs are sung in a rapid fire way that works really well and the lyrics are quite informative.

THe tunes flow so well and are qyite catchy.

Lin-Manuel Miranda did a superb job putting this all together and it’s quite understandable how this play became such a popular hit.

Leslie Odom Jr. is excellent as Aaron Burr and he was quite deserving of his Tony Award for Best Actor for his work here.

As great as Odom and the rest of the cast is tho, the one cast member who stands out the most is Chris Jackson as George Washington.

The presence that he brings to this role is astounding and he is constantly elevated above the rest of the cats by his performance here.

At first, I had some reservation about the run time of over two and a half hours, but things flow so well here that the time factor isn’t even felt at all and by the end, it leaves the viewer wanting even more.

I’d be real interested in seeing if they ever adapt this as a “pure theatrical” film instead of just giving us the stage play to enjoy.

Bottom Line – Great stage play that works really well. The story is quite fascinating to watch unfold and it is all done in such a glamorous way that it is so enjoyable to watch. The music, songs and choreography all fits so well together and keep things so much fun along the way. The use of hip-hop to tell this important man’s life story is done really well and despite a few initial reservations about the way they portrayed the founding fathers, it shines through throughout. The songs are quite catchy and it’s truly incredible the way that they tell this story. Miranda put this all together so well and it’s quite understandable how this play became so popular. Odom is great in the role of Burr and adds so much to this character but the actor who stands out among the rest is Jackson as Washington because his stage presence does so much to elevate the character among the rest of the cast. The 2+ hour runtime flies by due to the way that it all flows together so perfectly. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Ron Chernow, who wrote the Hamilton biography that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda in the first place, was initially skeptical about making a musical from Hamilton’s life, but changed his mind after his first meeting with Miranda, who stressed that he wanted Hamilton to be taken seriously by historians and asked Chernow to help him develop the script. Chernow said his skepticism melted the moment he heard Miranda’s first song, and was completely on board afterwards. He’s supposedly seen the show dozens of times, always as a paying customer. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)