Miles Ahead

15¦ Blu-ray, DVD

There comes a time in every actors career when they just have to do that personal project. To a studio the phrase 'personal project' invariably means a film with no commercial appeal, therefore it's not something they're interested in, but wish actors all the best in their endeavours.

Don Cheadle, who has landed on his feet with a cushy regular role as War Machine in the on-going Avengers franchise, as well as getting five seasons out of the Showtime comedy House of Lies, has decided that now is as good as time as any to get his personal project off of the ground.

But not content with just starring in it, Cheadle also produced, co-wrote and made his directorial debut with this pseudo biography of legendary musician Miles Davis.

boom reviews Miles Ahead
Sometimes I feel like I just don't have the horn.

It's been a number of years since anyone has heard any new music from Miles Davis (Cheadle), but journalist Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor) has got a tip that the jazz legend has recorded some new material. When he visits the gifted musician, he finds him to be far from friendly, and not the slightest bit interested in being interviewed for Rolling Stone magazine. His offer of some shit hot drugs however, does hold his attention. This allows Braden to get close to the new recordings, but he's not the only one interested in getting their hands on this new material, and before you know it, he and Miles are ducking for cover as the bullets fly.

It has to be said that this is far from your standard music biopic. In fact, it's not a biopic at all; if you expect to learn about the life of Miles Davis from a young boy to deep into adulthood, you won't find it here. Instead, Cheadle has taken a more creative approach and probably produced the film with the mantra 'what would have Miles done?'. Well, something not too dissimilar to this, no doubt.

boom reviews Miles Ahead
Put that man bag away, we're in public now!

Cheadle focuses on two elements for his film, one being the somewhat unbelievable gangster element, the other being the love of his life performer Frances Taylor. Unfortunately, both elements are somewhat unfulfilling. Although the scenes of Davis and Braden driving around New York being shot at are fun, you would think that there were actual real scenes in the artist's life worth focusing on. And the scenes regarding Taylor, told in surprisingly generic flashbacks, not only don't add up to much, but also just appear to fizzle out without rhythm or reason.

It may be patchy overall, but Cheadle does prove himself to be a natural behind the camera, as well as being completely compelling as Davis in front of it. You may not get to know much about the man, but you do get a sense of him through his music, of which there is plenty here to enjoy, and that's no bad thing. And Cheadle should be applauded in producing something other than a bog standard biopic, instead choosing something more akin to jazz itself in a unpredictable interpretation that both intrigues and entertains.

The only downside is that in doing so, Cheadle highlights a character who you would dearly like to know more about, whose life you wouldn't mind learning about in a biopic say?

we give this three out of five