Tick... Tick... This Movie Is the Bomb

As the hype of the 2022 Oscars dies down, we look back over the lists of people who won fairly and those who were nominated, but it seemed like they deserved it more. One of those people ( was Andrew Garfield (most notably known for his iconic superhero role as the second iteration of Peter Parker in The Amazing Spiderman 1 and 2) for his performance as the passionate, eclectic character of the real-life, late Jonathan Larson (1960-1996).

For those who are unfamiliar, Jonathan Larson was a playwright and composer whose most notable works are 'Rent' and 'Tick, Tick...Boom', the latter upon which this film is based. I didn't previously know about Jonathan Larson before I watched this film, and I was actually pleasantly surprised at the talent in this film, most notably Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical, anybody?) in a supporting role. I was even more surprised to find out that Andrew Garfield did all the singing and piano playing required to play Jonathan Larson.

The vocals in this film were absolutely amazing. As someone who has learned singing techniques for the past two or so years and how to do them correctly, the level of singing in this film was top-notch, and the fun, peppy musical numbers in the film (including my personal favorite number from the film, Boho Days) didn't detract from the story at hand, either reflecting on the social climate of the late 90's or Jonathan Larson's story personally. And Andrew played him beautifully. For a lot of actors who play superhero roles for any significant period of time, it can be really difficult to move away from the character.

Take Robert Downey Jr., for example. He played the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man in the MCU for ten years. After his tear-jerking departure from the franchise in the culmination of the Infinity Saga, which saw the departure of many other foundation characters of the MCU such as Chris Evan's Captain America/Steve Rogers, RDJ's next acting tenure was the title character of the film Dolittle, as the beloved animal whisperer/doctor Dr. Dolittle. I watched this film in cinemas, and while I loved it, it felt very much as if good ol' RDJ still hadn't quite moved on from playing Iron Man. And honestly, who wouldn't? But Andrew Garfield has managed to diverge from his character as the second iteration of Peter Parker (as well as his most recent cameo of the character in the Oscar-nominated film Spiderman: No Way Home) and create a fresh, new performance as Jonathan Larson.

His performance is dynamic on two fronts: he is funny and quirky, but also passionate and at times, in pain. And all of the facets of the personality that he embodies are all equally believable and powerful. His relationships with each of the supporting characters are all wonderfully fleshed out and you feel his pain when he hears that (spoilers ahead!!) his best friend since childhood, Michael, is HIV-positive, or when its revealed his friend, Freddy, dies during the middle of the film just as Jonathan thinks he's getting better. And the film promises no happy ending for Jonathan, either. During the leadup to the eventful climax of the film, his girlfriend of several years, Susan (portrayed by Alexandra Shipp of X-Men fame as the younger version of Ororo Munroe/Storm) breaks up with him due to the prioritisation of his music over their relationship. At the end of the film, it is revealed that the real life Jonathan Larson later died of an aortic aneurysm (from a later identified deadly disease known as Marfan's Syndrome) on the night that his second musical, 'Rent', was scheduled to go live off-Broadway for the first time.

Altogether, Tick...Tick...Boom! was a wonderful film and despite the sad ending, I believe it's definitely worth a good watch if you're into musicals and/or biopic films. It also provides a bit of a good laugh (Andrew Garfield is definitely quite a character in this role) and the musical numbers are absolutely amazing and delightful. It's right up there with my favorite musical films, such as The Greatest Showman (2017), starring Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron and Zendaya.

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