I'm pretty open minded when it comes to music so went into this with no expectations. I do know some of Beyonce's older music with Destiny's Child and the likes of her big hits Halo and Single Ladies.
The first 10 minutes seemed fine. It is pretty much the start of one of Beyonce's concerts and her excellent vocals are on form. I thought I will enjoy this if the entire near 3 hour film is like this. The only thing I noticed what I thought was weird was the different takes of the same songs edited together, this is clear from the changing of day to night time setting but above all Beyonce's constant wardrobe changes. Fine, I could up with that niggle but it definitely became irritating later on.
However then the haphazardness starts. We constantly switch between 10 or so minutes of concert footage and either backstage rehearsal footage or Beyonce reflecting on where she is in her private life (even whilst flying on a private jet - ugh) etc. It does not interest me anywhere near as much as watching what an artist can do best. Maybe as some extra footage on a Blu Ray or a separate documentary this would have been great but intertwining this with concert footage, I'm not sure is a good idea. It didn't work for me. Seeing Beyonce's backstage stuff could be interesting. Maybe as a 10-15 minute intro and after that just present an entire single concert
I wanted to get back to the concert every time the backstage / private footage parts were shown...
However, that turned out to be disappointing as well. The music became exceptionally monotonous, as if you are in a club all evening. Almost every song appeared to be about sex / I'm a strong female, included twerking and had no live band (I think I saw them on stage for about 5 songs). So we are reduced to listening to samples, many voice intro tracks and I guess a tape for music. I recognised two songs: Partition (not exactly a good song) and probably her biggest early solo hit: Crazy in Love. This is astonishing considering Beyonce's large early back catalogue. But I guess it has been left in the past. Which is a shame.
There is also some time spent on a concert power malfunction. Maybe interesting to some but I'm not sure it's relevant.
Bringing her 11 year old daughter on stage I think is bizarre considering the quite adult subject matter of Beyonce's music during most of the show. But it's up to her. Just weird seeing her daughter's mother near naked riding (both literally and figurative speaking) a tank like vehicle in the background.
Maybe Beyonce feels the need to stay relevant with only doing modern club music and pushing sexual boundaries that she has done for over 20 years. It seems somewhat tiring to me to watch for so long.
Now some of the visuals and props are excellent, there is no denying. There is a spectacular show there somewhere. However if it is not firstly and mostly about good music, I simply lose interest and I don't care what spectacle you bring to the table.
The music is pretty drab and lacks different textures to say the least.
Like where Beyonce is currently at, I had little knowledge of Taylor Swift's recent music as well a few months ago, but I thought her Eras concert film was far more digestible for an average music enthusiast and in fact I ended up watching it several times at the cinema. I also added some of Swift's songs to my music playlists. It says enough. Thus when Beyonce's film came around I thought I'd give it a shot too. But it's very, very different, and not in a good way.
I doubt I could sit through Renaissance again. Even the first time felt like too much.
I thus cannot recommend this film at all but to the die hard Beyonce fans who like her recent music. They will probably like this a lot, sure.
The first 10 minutes seemed fine. It is pretty much the start of one of Beyonce's concerts and her excellent vocals are on form. I thought I will enjoy this if the entire near 3 hour film is like this. The only thing I noticed what I thought was weird was the different takes of the same songs edited together, this is clear from the changing of day to night time setting but above all Beyonce's constant wardrobe changes. Fine, I could up with that niggle but it definitely became irritating later on.
However then the haphazardness starts. We constantly switch between 10 or so minutes of concert footage and either backstage rehearsal footage or Beyonce reflecting on where she is in her private life (even whilst flying on a private jet - ugh) etc. It does not interest me anywhere near as much as watching what an artist can do best. Maybe as some extra footage on a Blu Ray or a separate documentary this would have been great but intertwining this with concert footage, I'm not sure is a good idea. It didn't work for me. Seeing Beyonce's backstage stuff could be interesting. Maybe as a 10-15 minute intro and after that just present an entire single concert
I wanted to get back to the concert every time the backstage / private footage parts were shown...
However, that turned out to be disappointing as well. The music became exceptionally monotonous, as if you are in a club all evening. Almost every song appeared to be about sex / I'm a strong female, included twerking and had no live band (I think I saw them on stage for about 5 songs). So we are reduced to listening to samples, many voice intro tracks and I guess a tape for music. I recognised two songs: Partition (not exactly a good song) and probably her biggest early solo hit: Crazy in Love. This is astonishing considering Beyonce's large early back catalogue. But I guess it has been left in the past. Which is a shame.
There is also some time spent on a concert power malfunction. Maybe interesting to some but I'm not sure it's relevant.
Bringing her 11 year old daughter on stage I think is bizarre considering the quite adult subject matter of Beyonce's music during most of the show. But it's up to her. Just weird seeing her daughter's mother near naked riding (both literally and figurative speaking) a tank like vehicle in the background.
Maybe Beyonce feels the need to stay relevant with only doing modern club music and pushing sexual boundaries that she has done for over 20 years. It seems somewhat tiring to me to watch for so long.
Now some of the visuals and props are excellent, there is no denying. There is a spectacular show there somewhere. However if it is not firstly and mostly about good music, I simply lose interest and I don't care what spectacle you bring to the table.
The music is pretty drab and lacks different textures to say the least.
Like where Beyonce is currently at, I had little knowledge of Taylor Swift's recent music as well a few months ago, but I thought her Eras concert film was far more digestible for an average music enthusiast and in fact I ended up watching it several times at the cinema. I also added some of Swift's songs to my music playlists. It says enough. Thus when Beyonce's film came around I thought I'd give it a shot too. But it's very, very different, and not in a good way.
I doubt I could sit through Renaissance again. Even the first time felt like too much.
I thus cannot recommend this film at all but to the die hard Beyonce fans who like her recent music. They will probably like this a lot, sure.