The new biopic about Richard Burton has finally hit theaters, and it's a film that promises to reveal all the secrets behind its subject's life - or so we're told. What it actually delivers is a shallow attempt to present the actor as some kind of tortured soul, with his 'dramatic past' only made up of one thing: an insatiable passion for sex and drinking.
Let's set the record straight from the start - Burton was never anything more than your run-of-the-mill Welsh hunk who found himself catapulted into stardom after landing a part in a Hollywood film. The biopic Richard Burton: Wild Genius doesn't mess around when it comes to rewriting history, glossing over his humble beginnings as a mining town boy born to an uneducated family.
Burton's rise to fame was facilitated by a series of convenient breaks and good fortune - it's not exactly rocket science. He won a scholarship to Oxford, made some connections with theatre producers, and voila! Overnight sensation. His marriage to actress Sybil Williams lasted nine years before he met Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra.
Here we are again, indulging in euphemisms for Burton's infamous exploits - his 'incredible masculine grandeur', 'epitome of masculinity' nonsense that was bandied about by the press at the time. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what this really means: he was a middle-aged man who loved sex and booze, but not in a good way.
Burton's marriage to Taylor was marked by excessive drinking and infidelity on both sides, culminating in a messy divorce that ended with Burton taking the brunt of the blame. The Vatican stepped in, claiming the couple's public displays of affection were 'erotic vagrancy' - talk about a shallow moral stance.
The biopic is hardly critical of its subject, instead opting for a celebratory tone that glosses over the darker aspects of his life. We're told to believe that Burton was a victim of circumstance, brought down by the very success he sought. But what we really get is a shallow portrayal of an actor who found himself catapulted into stardom - an actor whose talent was only partly captured on screen.
The film ends with some half-hearted analysis questioning whether Burton 'wasted' his talent due to Hollywood's influence, but it's too little, too late. By now the damage has been done, and we're left to ponder whether Burton really did waste his life chasing excesses that would have ultimately led to his downfall.
One thing is clear - the idea of the tortured artist as a wild genius is no longer tenable in today's world. It was always a shallow construct designed to make actors look more interesting than they actually were. Richard Burton: Wild Genius fails to interrogate its subject's life, instead opting for the same tired tropes that have been used to describe him before - but without any real depth or substance.
Let's set the record straight from the start - Burton was never anything more than your run-of-the-mill Welsh hunk who found himself catapulted into stardom after landing a part in a Hollywood film. The biopic Richard Burton: Wild Genius doesn't mess around when it comes to rewriting history, glossing over his humble beginnings as a mining town boy born to an uneducated family.
Burton's rise to fame was facilitated by a series of convenient breaks and good fortune - it's not exactly rocket science. He won a scholarship to Oxford, made some connections with theatre producers, and voila! Overnight sensation. His marriage to actress Sybil Williams lasted nine years before he met Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra.
Here we are again, indulging in euphemisms for Burton's infamous exploits - his 'incredible masculine grandeur', 'epitome of masculinity' nonsense that was bandied about by the press at the time. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what this really means: he was a middle-aged man who loved sex and booze, but not in a good way.
Burton's marriage to Taylor was marked by excessive drinking and infidelity on both sides, culminating in a messy divorce that ended with Burton taking the brunt of the blame. The Vatican stepped in, claiming the couple's public displays of affection were 'erotic vagrancy' - talk about a shallow moral stance.
The biopic is hardly critical of its subject, instead opting for a celebratory tone that glosses over the darker aspects of his life. We're told to believe that Burton was a victim of circumstance, brought down by the very success he sought. But what we really get is a shallow portrayal of an actor who found himself catapulted into stardom - an actor whose talent was only partly captured on screen.
The film ends with some half-hearted analysis questioning whether Burton 'wasted' his talent due to Hollywood's influence, but it's too little, too late. By now the damage has been done, and we're left to ponder whether Burton really did waste his life chasing excesses that would have ultimately led to his downfall.
One thing is clear - the idea of the tortured artist as a wild genius is no longer tenable in today's world. It was always a shallow construct designed to make actors look more interesting than they actually were. Richard Burton: Wild Genius fails to interrogate its subject's life, instead opting for the same tired tropes that have been used to describe him before - but without any real depth or substance.
I just saw this biopic about Richard Burton and it's SO basic 
! Like, he was never more than a hot Welsh guy who got lucky with some scholarships and connections 
His marriage to Elizabeth Taylor was all about the drama and booze 
And honestly, his 'wild genius' persona is just a bunch of hype 
It's like, no one actually cares about what really went on behind those famous eyes 
This biopic is just trying to cash in on the 'tortured artist' stereotype without actually digging deep 
Can't we move on from this tired narrative already? 
... it just seems like they're tryin' to glamorize his wild past instead of showin' the real deal 
. i mean, we all know he was a total ladies man and booze fiend, but do we really need a film that glosses over the 'darker aspects' of his life? 
it's like they're tryin' to make him out to be some kinda tortured soul instead of just a guy who got lucky and became famous 
. it's all just a big PR stunt if u ask me 
. The movie just glosses over the fact that he was basically a Welsh hunk who got lucky with some connections and scholarship to Oxford 
. It's not like he was some tortured soul with a dark past, it's just his party days as an actor that were super excessive 
. I mean, yeah we know about Elizabeth Taylor and all that drama, but let's not forget the part where he got divorced and had to take the blame for everything 
. It just tries to make him look good without really getting into his true life struggles or talents as an actor. The whole idea of the "tortured artist" thing is so done and not even interesting anymore 
. The film's tone is also really off-putting - it's like they're trying to make Burton out to be some kind of heroic figure who was just victimized by the industry. Newsflash: we've seen that narrative before, and it gets old fast. And can we talk about how the Vatican's involvement in his divorce is conveniently left out of the story? It's like they're saying "oh, but Burton loved sex and booze, that's all you need to know!" 
but it's not like he was intentionally trying to be a bad boy, the movie makes him out to be this tortured soul and it's just not true 
. The film's tone is all celebratory, but what about the messy divorce and infidelity that actually happened? It feels like they're trying to pass off Burton as this tortured soul, but it's just not true 
. and dont even get me started on his marriage 2 elizabeth taylor... 
. the film is more celebratory than critcal, which jus makes me wanna facepalm 
. and that ending? 
i mean, we've all seen this movie before and it's just a bunch of made-up drama 
richard burton was a talented actor who got lucky with some good connections and voilà! he became famous 
. I wish they'd dug deeper into his life and struggles, but instead we get a shallow film that's more interested in selling us on some Hollywood myth than telling an honest story 
.
? It's not like he was some kind of self-made genius or anything 
. Like, yeah, they had their problems, but so do most marriages 
. And what's with the Vatican trying to claim that their public displays of affection were somehow scandalous? 
. And don't even get me started on how they're portraying him as this tortured soul just because he loved sex and booze 
. Instead, we get a watered-down celebration of Burton's life that doesn't add up 
I feel like the biopic is just perpetuating this idea of the "tortured artist" trope, you know? Like, Richard Burton's life was already so heavily dramatized in his time that it's hard to separate fact from fiction anymore. The film doesn't do a good job of delving deeper into his complexities or really exploring what drove him to make the choices he did. It just feels like they're rehashing all these tired cliches about excess and ego, but without adding anything new or interesting to the conversation.