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Quint -> RE: Balanced out the average - ha ha (30/11/2009 7:11:46 PM)
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SPOILERS
quote:
ORIGINAL: londonnut
Empire sorry but your review misses the point - forget it's a PJ movie and you're left with an empty film, albeit visually stunning.
I'll start by saying I've read the book twice (just because I'm a PJ fan so wanted to know what he would be working on) and loved it. No, it's not brilliantly written and does veer off in places but I found it genuinely moving. So went to the film (London) with high hopes, loving both source material and director. Major disappointment.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
My main criticism is the family characters have all been severely short-changed (which is no fault of the cast who are all superb with what little they've been given). The Grandma (Susan Sarandon) is simply there for inappropriate comic effect; you get no sense whatsoever she helped pull the family back together. There's a montage of her screwing up the housework with a drink in her hand and cigarette dangling from her mouth but her character in the source material really drives the family along. Not here. In this version the Grandma is there to do the hoovering. I really feel for Sarandon.
Rachel Weisz fares even worse. She has absolutely nothing to work with as the mother and neither do the actors who play the Detective (Michael Imperioli) and Ray & Ruth who have hardly any characterisation (or screen time). From cast interviews on the red carpet it's clear dramatic family scenes were filmed but cut (here comes the 3 hr DVD edition) including the Mother's affair. Both Sarandon and Imperioli are both calling PJ out on it... watch that get more press as time goes on. PJ is simply too obsessed with the 'In-Between World' and it seems he sees the story as a thriller, following the murderer way too much. While it's fun to watch Stanley Tucci who's terrific, the down-side is you hardly care about the family towards the end. Mark Wahlberg is good (yes, really) but his role should be so much more powerful. It's a big mistake; those that have read the book know there's no emotional pay-off on the murder, it's all attached to the emotion of the family rebuilding itself. It's the film's fundamental flaw; it should be terribly moving but it's empty. The mother returns and they hug. That's it. Brilliant.
Visually, it's stunning and I do feel like I need to watch it again for the little visual clues in the 'In-Between World' here and there that Susie needs to spot in order to move on. There are also some great stand-out scenes where PJ shows off his technical skills (how Susie discovers she's been murdered is especially well done as is the tension when her sister is in the murderer's house). Saoirse is brilliant but the script just doesn't give her the powerful role she deserves - she's a better actress than the material PJ gives her.
To anyone who says the reduction in the role of the family is simply cutting away the worst of the book, they're wrong; it just doesn't work as a film either. It's a story about the family; that's what 'the lovely bones' are, the new bonds that form following Susie's death - it's even explained in the book (patronising as it it in places). And so it's the lovely bones themselves that are lacking in the film (including the relationship her sister develops which is one of the most moving story-lines of the book). I think people who see the film who aren't familiar with the book will be even more frustrated; they won't care about the family and will have no resolution on the murder.
Can't tell you how disappointed I am with PJ. How a man that made Heavenly Creatures allowed this cut of the film through I have no idea. His budgets are clearly going to his head; it's all style and absolutely no substance (and believe me I was desperately willing myself to love the film as I was watching).
Last thought; maybe the well publicised test-screenings resulted in the drama being cut? Either way it's fatal to this film (and any Oscar hopes).
Now I haven't seen the film or read the book, but I did read the shooting version of the script and almost everything londonnut says about the family and the lack of emotional weight (particularly in regards to the murder) are spot on with what my opinion was. As I say, having not seen the film, I'm sure things have changed, and naturally actors bring a huge deal to the roles, but I still felt the script was rather light weight and really just going through the motions. Having not read the book, I didn't know there was far more meat to the family scenes, and that makes a lot of sense, since time with Tucci's character is interesting, but without an actual pay off, it felt like the wrong route to take. I'm still going to see the film, as the script and the reviews have made me very interested in the visual direction, but I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the shooting script in terms of a story and an emotional ride.
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