'Yesterday': All This Movie’s Troubles Seemed So Far Away.

BY: CORY R.

Copyright: Universal Pictures

Danny Boyle’s Yesterday was released June 28th, 2019, but was it as good as “Yesterday” the song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney? The movie's main plot is that The Beatles, one of the leading U.K. bands in the British Invasion, never existed.

The Beatles were one of the biggest bands in the 1960s, competing with the likes of Elvis Presley. Although The Beatles only lasted for 10 years they are still the best selling artists of all time with 178 million units being sold. Sadly, John Lennon and George Harrison have passed away but Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still around and performing. The remaining Beatles, along with the widow of George Harrison have given the seal of approval to the film and Danny Boyle. Boyle also said, “They love the idea and how quirky it is.”

There are some problems with the movie though. Most of the songs on the soundtrack are a good rendition of The Beatles classic hits except for one, “Help!”. “Help!” by The Beatles is, to me, one of the best Beatles songs, but Yesterday took the song and decided to add a metal/punk type to it which just shouldn’t fit. Believe me, it doesn’t. The acting is phenomenal and all the songs are fantastic but the way they ruined “Help!” ruined the movie for me. Before the song played I thought: “Yea I can get down with this, I’ll buy the soundtrack.” Then I heard “Help!” and I just couldn’t get over it.

Something that is strange is that “Eleanor Rigby” isn’t on the official soundtrack when it did make an appearance in the movie. One song that “Yesterday” did great at redoing is “Let It Be”. It keeps the basics of what the song is supposed to be and just adds to it. It’s easily my favorite. One song they added quite a bit to was “Back In The USSR” and it still sounds pretty good. It seems like they took the song and added a punk vibe to it but it’s fine because the original “Back In The USSR” had the same feel. The original “Help!” did not give off a metal/punk feel like the rendition of the classic did.

Don’t even get me started on the ending. I’ve heard there is an alternate ending but I have yet to see it so I’m not taking it into account. The ending just doesn’t fit well with the overall theme of guilt. Jack, the main character, feels guilty for taking songs that he didn’t write and it really messes with his head. This is great character development but right in the end it just acts like none of the events of the movie even happened. It shows no repercussions for Jack who took songs that weren’t his and claimed them.

The bottom line is Yesterday is an “okay” movie. They never explain the logic of it and yes, I do understand it’s a movie and it has, aheem, “Movie Logic”, but it seriously was something that should have been added in. The fact that it was never thrown in is just a lack of plot. The movie does, however, do quite well with showing how the world did change after The Beatles just disappeared from existence. John Lennon was assassinated in 1980 outside his New York apartment, but in this world where he never got famous he’s still alive and he seemed to have continued his art. We never find out about George Harrison but I guess we are to assume he passes away in 2001 due to cancer since it was nothing to do with his popularity.

Every movie has its problems but this one was just too full of mistakes to be forgotten or written off. If you’re looking for a movie that utilizes The Beatles music catalog, I’d recommend Across The Universe, released in 2007, which is a great movie. I still listen to that soundtrack while working on stuff, including this review. Both movies do a great cover of “Let It Be”, which I think truly shows how The Beatles were truly ahead of their time and they have shaped the music industry as we know it today, and it’s a real shame when you walk down the hallway and high schoolers don’t know even know who “The Fab Four” is and/or who they were.

Yesterday is now available on DVD, Digital HD, and Blu-Ray