Last year everyone had the opportunity to see the musical phenomena Hamilton, but before Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda created the hit musical In the Heights which has just had a film adaption release. If there is anything in common between In the Heights and Hamilton is the incredible music. There isn’t a bad song throughout and I can’t wait to buy the soundtrack like right now. The opening 8-minute number is fantastic and spans from Latin inspired music, to rap music. Its simply incredible. Another stand out song is Blackout, which is chaotic and energetic, but it perfectly fits the tone of the scene and the story.
However, when we move away from the music, this is when the flaws rear their ugly heads. I felt the story was very weak, nothing interesting happened over the span of the 2 hour and 30-minute runtime. The stage show is 2 hours long so you would think the additional 30 minutes would add to the interest but instead scenes are taken out only to be replaced with boring and half-baked ideas. There’s a song called 96,000 which happens 45 minutes in the song announces that the winning lottery was bought in the store but who won isn’t revealed until a 1 hour and 10 minutes later. It plays no impact to the overall plot, so the plot line feels pointless. Did I enjoy watching In the heights? Yes. Will I listen to the soundtrack on repeat? Yes. Will I watch the film again??
