This movie completely misrepresents Jimi Hendrix and is disrespectful to his memory. Besides the fact that the acting by Wood Harris was abysmal and made James Hendrix look like a fool, there are other deeper flaws. The writing is terribly lazy. It picks out certain moments from Jimi's life and incorporates them into the script without any true insight on the background of the experiences. And once it's in the script, it barely casts any real insight on James's life or true character. For example, Jimmy had a very rocky relationship with his father, and got very little support from him. The writing didn't even bother to touch on this at all. The writer seemed to be stricken by a severely one-dimensional view of James's life, or at least may chosen one. In the last of the two or three scenes that briefly elaborate on James's relation to his father, the script consisted of mere small-talk, and then Al stating his mother would be proud. It doesn't even bother to touch on the true-life familial instability. It seems as if this would've been "too hard" for the writers. Hendrix barely interacts with anybody besides his lawyer and managers. Hendrix actually had real relationships with other people, including his fellow musicians, who didn't merely whine at him when he did too many takes. After the Experience breaks up, the plot doesn't even touch on the relationships he had with his new band members, the arrangement of the Band of Gypsys, and the final band mixture of the Experience and Band of Gypsys which combined Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell. In a sense, all of these arguments have to do with the technical and literary aspects of the film-making. Sure, this type of representation of Jimi Hendrix is good for the average complacent viewer, but for anyone who is genuinely wanting to know something about Hendrix's life, the tragic thing is how much of a misrepresentation this film is. The real problem is that the people in charge of this film actually had the disrespect to even make this movie after getting denied the rights by the Hendrix estate to actually use his original music. The filmmakers decided it would be okay to make a film about Jimi Hendrix, even if they would have to substitute Jimi Hendrix's playing with covers by an anonymous guitarist whose playing did not even come close to conveying Hendrix's true musical genius. That, and all of the songs "played" in the film are songs that he had performed that weren't even his own compositions (Wild Thing, Like a Rolling Stone). The fact that they had the audacity and the disrespect to just go along and make the film under these conditions is staggering. Essentially, they made a film about Jimi Hendrix, yet his music was in the background of the plot while his LEGAL TROUBLES took the foreground. I would say one of the primary fascinating aspects about Jimi Hendrix is his music, considering that is what he is so famous for. His musicianship was incredible. His playing was certainly along the lines of a virtuoso. Not only that, but a very powerful aspect of Jimi Hendrix's music that is often taken for granted these days is that before him, NOBODY PLAYED LIKE HE DID. Nobody at all. His style was absolutely unheard of and original. Neither this aspect of his music or his original songwriting were touched on at all in this film. Instead, this film focused on half-truths about Hendrix's so-called deterioration. Something the film failed to touch on, yet was a big part of his life in 1970 - he was working on a brand-new double album with all-new material, First Rays of the New Rising Sun. He didn't just become a big hopeless baby of a wreck, as the film portrayed him to be. His death is shrouded in mystery and it can't just be displayed as an intentional overdose. A very false picture of his life is presented: that Jimi Hendrix overdosed on drugs due to immaturity and an inability to cope with fame like a reasonable human being. It is such a disservice to his memory that he was portrayed like this. If you want to really know Hendrix, read about him. Not just a brief mini-biography, read a book about him. Or two. And above all, listen to his music. Peace out.
Review of Hendrix
