Absolutely brilliant

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Blistering performances.

First, I should note that I don't know most of Tina Turner's music, and I've never seen any of her performances. That said, "What's Love Got to Do with It" is a fine movie. Even though biopics have become a cliché - and many of them are cynical excuses to get the stars Academy Award nominations (the god-awful "Man on the Moon" is one of the worst offenders) - this is still a movie that you have to see. Starting with Tina's humble beginnings when she was still known as Anna Mae Bullock, we see her move to St. Louis where she meets Ike Turner. She soon becomes part of his act and marries him, only to find out that he has a volatile side.Angela Bassett puts on the performance of a lifetime as Tina. I understand that she managed to impersonate Tina's moves to a tee. And then there's Laurence Fishburne as the abusive Ike. His performance made me feel as if I was walking on eggshells. The rest of the characters aren't developed that extensively, but the focus is supposed to be on Tina and Ike anyway.Bassett and Fishburne received Oscar nods for their performances. Although they didn't win, you can't deny the effort that they put into these roles. It affirms them as two of the greatest actors of their generations. It's one outstanding film, and I recommend it.In more recent developments, Ike died in 2007. Tina renounced her US citizenship and now lives in Switzerland with her current husband.

I read the book first, which was intriguing and enlightening on the life of Tina Turner, and one would think that if would be difficult to translate her life's journey into a great movie .Not so! the movie is one of the best biopics related to a famous singer's journey that i have ever seen so far.I was drawn into the story from the beginning of the movie, which begins when Tina was a child singing in the choir, and even at that time, Tina's voice was so magnificent that she was ostracized by the choir director. I was riveted throughout the movie and the story conjured up so many emotions. The music of course, took me back in time when I grew up in the 60's and 70's, which is fantastically revitalized and full of energy.The years of battery that Tina endured from Ike is wrenching and disturbing, but the triumph and endurance of the person called Tina Turner is enlightening.

When this movie came out, I was about one year old. When my sister and I were little the only scenes we were allowed to watch were the performance scenes. As time went on, they were the only scenes I remembered. As I got older, I began to have this sudden urge to watch this movie again (the VHS we had once owned had gotten lost somehow).On my 16th birthday, I was given this movie on DVD as a gift. I suddenly realized why I wanted to see this movie again, and it instantly became my favorite movie of all-time.'What's Love Got To Do With It' is the biopic of Tina Turner, mainly focusing on her turbulent marriage to Ike Turner. The acting is PERFECTION (Angela Bassett starred as Tina Turner, Laurence Fishburne starred as Ike Turner) and the entire movie was COMPELLING, CAPTIVATING, EXCITING, AND INSPIRING.Despite the fact that the two lead stars barely look like who they're portraying, and with a few 'unnecessarily altered' facts for dramatic effect, this movie is a must-see!

Sometimes biopics tend to be instantly forgettable made-for-TV franchises, with very little to offer in terms of character development and exploration which attempts to dig deeper into their personal lives, and their eventual triumphs over adversity. There are also biopics that seem to be memorable and popular with mainstream Hollywood, such as the Rocky series, Ali, Ray, Walk The Line to name but many. But 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' is neither a made-for-TV type of film, nor did it reclaim instant recognition and appraisal from the Academy Awards folk, seeing as it was harshly and virtually ignored. Bassett was nominated for a best actress gong, only for that to go to Holly Hunter in the rather dull drama,'The Piano' whilst Fishburne lost out to Tom Hanks, who starred in the overrated 'Philiadelphia' for best actor. It is indeed one of the very few (music-based) biopic films where in which it delivers strong but impressive performances from the main leads without all the necessary commercialised bravado and hype. 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' chronicles the imminent and illustrious life and times of Anna Mae Bullock aka Tina Turner- one of the most prominent and successful female solo recording artists in (pop)music, ever.The narrative of the film attempts to present to the audience a glimpse into the difficult hardships that Tina had to endure both as a child and as an adult, as well as her troublesome and at times violent marital relationship with her husband, Ike. Laurence Fishbourne excels in this role, even though some would argue that he bears little resemblance to Ike Turner, in physical terms. He is so convincing and yet so menacing and vile as Ike, you just feel nothing but total repulsion towards him for the way he has treated his wife. Beating and hitting her so hard, i'm sure it wasn't easy for Fishburne and Bassett to film such difficult scenes because on screen for us viewers, the violence, which was being inflicted on Tina by her lover, was so brutal to watch. As for Bassett, she may not be an accomplished vocalist in her own right, but her lip-synching of the tracks during the music performances of the film was impressive and she succeeded in capturing and projectifying Tina's mannerisms and presence on stage.What I like in particular about this movie also, is that as it is based on a true life account of Tina Turner's ups and downs, in contrast to other similar themed auto-biographical films, the events that unfold throughout the duration of this production are presented to us, not in an idealised way but as and when it happened, no matter how bleak and unsettling it is and was. Ali, Ray and even Malcolm X all celebrated the achievements of Black African American heroism but that they also celebrate the acceptance and importance of Black masculinity within what was then a predominantly white society and what it is to be male, Black and American. In Tina Turner,and this film, it in a way celebrates and acknowledges the contribution of Black femininity through her struggles and in overcoming such struggles and through her music, in addition for others to make sense of what it is to be female, Black and American.Although the abuse scenes are often difficult to stomach, particularly the rape scene where Tina is attacked by Ike, which I found incredibly disheartening and painful to sit through, 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' is an unmistakable- yet intense journey of emotions, sheer brutality and pure heartache on the part of the so- called main protagonist. But of course, Tina does indeed triumph in the end, which is a wonderful thing. And although it feels like it is like any other film with a predominantly Black cast, the fact that Tina Turner's music caters for all audiences and not just the Black community at large, means that regardless of your social, ethnic background, gender or sexuality,'What's Love Got to Do With It?' is an extremely accessible and engaging film that is as hard-hitting and powerful as it is moving. And in Angela Bassett, she should be a much, much bigger movie star than she is right now. It is unbelievable that this underrated actress doesn't receive as many film roles that she rightly deserves.Nevertheless, this film has to be one of the cult classics of all- time and the brilliance of the performances have to be seen to be believed. If you're a massive Tina Turner fan, you'll love this, but if you love to watch great acting and expect a good story, then this is definitely worth seeing as well.