Rating of
1.5/4
And a new level of boredom is born.
memento_mori - wrote on 12/06/13
Well, KingInTheNorth was right when he warned me of watching this film. I do not like it.
Now, I am very critical when it comes to the drama genre, my personal favorite. Especially when there is a romance story involved, one of my least favorite genres. This film's Wikipedia page, at least at the time of posting this review, says that this film is a 'dystopian science-fiction drama film'.
And let me just tell you, this film is about 10% dystopian science-fiction drama and 90% love triangle.
That's right. Around three lines of text at the beginning of the film sum up what has happened to this point, so we can concentrate on everything else that isn't important. That's all the dystopia and sci-fi you're going to get in this movie.
The direction and writing are both poor in regards of capturing actual characters and bringing a story into motion. It is unbelievable how tedious and boring this film is.
There is practically no editing. It felt like they took every single shot in the film and stretched it into the longest duration they possibly could, and just left it there.
The acting, which is otherwise praised by all, makes me laugh, because I cannot believe the wasted talent here. How much closer to emotionless could Carey Mulligan get? Where are her persona and energy from Drive and Shame?
I hate to be the guy that nitpicks and criticizes every little detail of a screenplay, but this is just a screenwriter hoarding some characters, some locations, some voice-over and some implied messages together, expecting you to like the outcome of his perfect chaos.
I know I keep repeating myself in this overlong review, but so does this film in its overlong runtime. What ambition did this film have? Alex Garland (screenwriter) has made it clear he had something to say, but how did he ever get the idea to show a serious message through such dumb characters, placing way too much emphasis on such a vague concept?
If you want to express that the characters truly love each other, actually make them DO something! Don't just show them being on the cusp of crying all the time or looking at each other for ten seconds and then looking away. Garfield's character actually mentions the fact that their love is verifiable. Then love! Verify it!
What's even worse is the fact that it not only fails as a drama, but as a love story, too. The love triangle is not only illogical and confusing to say the least, but of course drags on for decades and is only separated once in a while by a dimly colored slide and line of text.
These character relationships are so unnatural and forced, it felt like I was watching a documentary about people who had rare illnesses which caused them to be very socially awkward.
I could predict their every move. The boy randomly decides he likes the other girl now, one sad violin melody over a sad tracking shot later and they're all grown up… and still living together with a thousand sub-plots leading nowhere and a sexual reference once in a while. Great writing.
Which brings me to my next point: Writers, stop abusing the love triangle.
It's been done so many times in so many pointless movies: How Do You Know?, This Means War, He's Just Not That Into You or even the dreadful Twilight films.
Once in a while someone gets it right, like the writers of Casablanca or Charlie Kaufman's masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but only because they didn't rely on this completely.
I really wanted to like this film, and that's a pity, because it had so much potential. Who knew a film with such an original premise could be executed in such a clichéd, empty fashion?
Admittedly, the performances are good on Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield's parts, but I expected a little more than a sad look and a tear on Carey Mulligan's cheek.
The direction is unsuitable for such a difficult type of film to comprehend, it just feels way too long, despite its quite short runtime.
The screenplay is the biggest shock. Because it isn't about dystopia. It isn't about drama. It isn't about emotion, love, the exploration of souls or anything for that matter. It's just pretentious and trite.
