Loki can sing, y'all

We've seen British actors play Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Christian Bale) and Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield), all of whom have American origins, and those performances have won over audiences to at least some degree.

Playing a real-life folk hero, however, is another challenge entirely for an actor born across the pond. That is London-born Tom Hiddleston's charge in "I Saw the Light," the new biopic about country music legend Hiram "Hank" Williams.


Hiddleston, perhaps best known for playing Thor's adopted brother Loki in three Marvel films, does not seem the obvious choice to play a singer from rural Alabama. Yet the 35-year-old is, in a word, marvelous.

"I Saw the Light" wastes no time featuring his vocals, opening with an a capella version of "Cold, Cold Heart" before picking up Williams' life with his marriage to Audrey Mae Sheppard (Elizabeth Olsen) in a filling station. That scene might be the happiest the audience sees Williams over the next two hours, as the singer's demons are front and center. No one can accuse director Marc Abraham of glossing over Williams' drinking, womanizing and struggles to manage back pain caused by spina bifida.

Like many artists with turbulent personal lives, Williams appears most at peace when performing; he produced 33 top-10 hits before dying of heart failure at age 29. Not that it's a perfect solution, especially considering the pessimistic lyrics of many of his songs. Take Williams' first No. 1 hit, "Lovesick Blues." Fred Rose (Bradley Whitford), his friend and a music publishing executive, is reluctant to record the song because it's "painful in all the wrong ways."

Yet Williams prefers the stage to dealing with his considerably less talented wife angling for time in the spotlight or his managers asking him to fulfill obligations he's deemed unworthy of his time.

Hiddleston excels at magnifying the tension between Williams and those closest to him: his mother, his bandmates, his handlers and his wife. You very much believe Hank and Audrey Mae can't stand each other at their lowest points. One scene that finds her bedridden following an operation as Hank visits her is brutal emotionally.

Are we convinced that the on-and-off couple belonged together in the first place? That's a harder leap to make and one of the few letdowns of the movie.

"I Saw the Light" prides itself on its honesty, much like its subject matter.

"Country music, it's sincere," Williams tells a reporter in one scene. "Ain't nothing phony. A man sings a sad song, he knows it's sad."

All of this won't add up to necessarily feeling sorry for Hank Williams, but you'll believe he was unapologetic and genuine.

See it, especially if you love country music. 3 stars (out of four)

Selected quote: "It's all just a bunch of paper, some green, some bloody."

@redeyesportschi |