Cash biopic slightly above standard fare

Johnny Cash died in September of 2003, only four months after his beloved wife June Carter Cash passed. While his death was attributed to complications from diabetes, some would argue he died of a lonely heart. To the credit of director James Mangold's "Walk the Line," it is Johnny and June's mutual love and admiration that pilots the film, even when it occasionally veers into movie-of-the-week territory.\n"Walk the Line" chronicles Johnny's childhood, ever-present daddy issues, stint in the military, failed first marriage, drug addiction and early struggles in the music business. Joaquin Phoenix, our generation's excuse for a method actor, plays Cash with a muted fire in his eyes. His performance was nominated for an Oscar this year and outshines that of the fellow nominees Terrence Howard and David Strathairn. Reese Witherspoon recently nabbed an Oscar for her portrayal of Cash's second wife June, and while it is certainly the best acting of her career, it's still overshadowed by Phoenix's brooding performance.\nMuch has been made of the fact that Phoenix and Witherspoon actually sang the songs in the film, but as with American Idol, vocal talent alone does not a legitimate performance make. Anyone who's heard Cash's infamous prison recordings of 1968 and 1969 knows that he was a sometimes rollicking, often somber musical force to be reckoned with and the songs in the film don't quite harness that same power. \nAlso troubling are moments where the film verges on biopic melodrama (a nasty side effect of tribute films that nearly strangled 2004's "Ray") but these are few and far between and the stolen quiet moments between Joaquin's Johnny and Reese's June are the film's finest.\nThe one-disc version of "Walk the Line" offers a satisfactory feature-length commentary track from Mangold, as well as 10 wisely cut deleted scenes also featuring Mangold commentary. A double-disc Collector's Edition is also available, containing the same features as the single disc, while also boasting several documentaries that most serious Cash fans will find of value. \nThe two featurettes, "Folsom, Cash and the Comeback" and "Ring of Fire: The Passion of Johnny and June," are standard DVD fare, mainly existing to honor the now-deceased Cash, but the longer documentary "Celebrating the Man in Black" goes into a bit more depth concerning the making of the film and the American cultural importance of the couple and features interviews with the likes of musicians John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. There are also three extended musical numbers with Phoenix and Witherspoon which come off as overkill seeing as how the movie has one too many to begin with.\nStructured in the form of an extended flashback before Johnny's famous 1968 concert immortalized on the "At Folsom Prison" LP, "Walk the Line" is a respectable tribute to the Man in Black and the woman who was his muse and support system for so many years. One can't help but wish, though, that the film had been made to honor Johnny and June while they were still alive.