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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Great Gatsby Review

The Great Gatsby was met with a rather polarizing reception with reviews ranging from "one of the best movies of the year" to "dull and lifeless," but which side is right?
The Great Gatsby is an adaption of the iconic novel of the same name about the extravagant lifestyle of America's rich and prosperous through the eyes of Nick Carraway. The film mostly follows the events of his life around the time when he met the reclusive Jay Gatsby, Nick's neighbor. Being one of the only people in the world that has not read the novel, not knowing much about the film gives a somewhat unique perspective without the positive or negative bias that is almost always associated when watching adaptations. Since several of my favorite movie review blogs like RATH'S REVIEWS and Random Mexican’s Movie Reviews gave the film high ratings, my expectations for the film were somewhat high, and unfortunately the movie turned out to be almost a little disappointing.
The Great Gatsby had some great moments and visuals with Leonardo DiCaprio's reliably excellent performance as Gatsby himself, but the film was all style over substance without properly developed characters. While Gatsby and Carraway are mostly well developed and thought out characters, who are aided by top notch performances, the majority of the other characters are one dimensional. However, the biggest problem with the Great Gatsby is the disinteresting first half. Despite the pretty visuals and fancy camera work, I felt oddly disconnected from the events of the film. Stuff happened, and some of the scenes had great visuals, but at the same time, not much actually happened. Everything is so visually loud that you are left drowning in a sea of colors. The second half is better, even if it was a little sappy and predictable, but at least Gatsby's character is featured more often. Basically, when DiCaprio is not on screen, the film suffers. Since the first half of the film does not have a lot of DiCaprio, it is not nearly as entertaining. The character of Gatsby is, by far, the best aspect of the film. Even though Gatsby is apparently not featured earlier in the book, the lack of his character is nevertheless a negative.

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Genre: Period Drama, Drama,
Release Date: May 10, 2013
Running Time: 142 minutes
MMPA rating:

The Good: Some great visuals, Leonardo DiCaprio is always great, Tobey Maguire gives a strong performance, Stronger second half, Entertaining dialect, One memorably humorous scene,

The Bad: Style over substance, Weak supporting characters, Weak supporting cast, Occasionally annoying soundtrack, Weak first half, Suffers without DiCaprio,
Plot: 6.7/10- From a script standpoint, The Great Gatsby has some strong ideas, but the execution is where the film is lacking. The visuals early in the movie dilute the story, and it actually turns out to be kind of boring at times, especially during the first few party scenes. Baz Luhrmann's direction is similar to that of Zack Sndyer in that he is great at the visuals but lacks in the story and character departments.

Acting: 7.3/10- Leonardo DiCaprio is undeniably excellent in the role of Gatsby. Every time he is on screen the film is better. Tobey Maguire is an often underrated actor and he gives his best performance since Spider-Man 2 as Nick Carraway. Seriously though, why do people dislike Toby? He is such a likable guy! As much as I want to like Carey Mulligan since she was in one of the best Doctor Who episodes, "Blink," she gave such a dull and bland performance in the movie. Joel Edgerton gave a decent performance as the jerk archetype character. Most of the other actors in the movie majorly overacted.

Special effects: 7.0/10- Some of the green screen is noticeable, although one would assume that the movie looked better in 3D.

Soundtrack: 5.0/10- The Great Gatsby's soundtrack mostly consists of modern music from the likes of Jay-Z and Lana Del Rey. Putting aside my general disinterest in English modern music, some of tracks were rather good and worked for that particularly scene; however, other songs were majorly distracting and annoying.

Humor: 6.0/10- Despite not being a comedy, one scene in particular added some much needed levity. *Minor Spoiler* When Gatsby meets Daisy for the first time in years is the scene that I am referring to.*End Spoiler*

Overall: 6.8/10- Overall, The Great Gatsby is a good movie, but not a great one. The visuals are excellent and Leonardo DiCaprio is the man, however through the loud music and pretty visuals, the movie lacks substance and well developed characters.

Closing comments: Well Old Sport, The Great Gatsby is a movie that I really wanted to like, and even though it was enjoyable and Leo is a hard guy not to like, I cannot say it was a great movie. Fans of the book will likely find more to like than I did.

Recommended for: Fans of the novel, Drama fans, Leonardo DiCaprio fans,

Below is a review from one of my favorite critics, Jeremy Jahns, where he makes incredibly valid points about the movie that I mostly agree with the exception of his opinion on Toby. Warning however, because there is some strong language that some might find offensive. Normally I would not include this type of content on the blog, but Jahns' review supports mine well.
Click here to check out more of my movie reviews.


Old sport, what did you think of the Great Gatsby? Please comment below and let me know!

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

13 comments:

  1. You have pretty much exactly the same opinion of this movie that I do, and the novel is one of my all-time favorite books. I agree that it was all style over substance, and while most of what happens is technically straight out of the book, almost nothing actually felt accurate to it! The point and heart of the story was all wrong. But I think you're right -- I probably did find more little details and parts where knowing the book that helped me enjoy it more. I did like the characters more than you it seems. (Probably because I already know them, so the lack of development didn't effect me as much!)

    Excellent review, James!

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    1. Glad to see we agree. The movie gave me a feeling that the source material had more to say, but it was not translated to the screen. It actually reminds me a lot of the Watchmen movie compared to the graphic novel. Also regarding seeing more in the characters, I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes when I watch mediocre adaptations that I want to like, I project what I already know about the characters so that they seem more developed than they actually were in the book.

      Thank you Sarah!

      -James

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  2. Great review! :) I read the book recently(January, I think) and it wasn't one of my favorite classics- I liked it all right, but it wasn't the best piece of literature I've read. I have yet to watch the film, but I could definitely see it being style over substance(since the book is one I'd see as kind of hard to translate to film). I could also see the characters being underdeveloped in the movie, since a lot of them were slightly so in the novel. I'll have to check the movie out and see what I think of it.

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    1. Thank you! :) While I would not say that it is a must-watch, I think you should probably give it a watch only because you read the book. I would be interested in hearing what you think of it since you did not love the book.

      -James

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  3. Thanks for the link James!

    I loved the movie as I was an avid lover of the book and thought that it did it justice. I can definitely see where your disagreements come from though. The Great Gatsby really divided critics and fans last year.

    LOVE the new review style with gifs and all though!

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    1. I'm in the same boat as Jordan. I will add that I'm a big fan of Baz which is one of the reasons a lot of critics were divided on it. I still think it's one of the best films of last year but can see how the film can turn off some.

      Thanks for linking my review James!

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    2. No problem Jordan!

      I am glad it was a good adaptation, too bad that did not translate so well to those that have not read the book.

      Thanks, I am glad you are liking the gifs! I think they are make my posts look better.

      -James

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    3. @Daniel: Haha, we replied to Jordan at the exact same time. Anyway, other than a few minutes of Australia, I do not believe I have seen much of Baz's work, but I suppose it just is not my thing. No problem Daniel!

      -James

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  4. I thought it was good, and I love Leo, but you're right, it wasn't by any means great.

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    1. We seem to have the exact same opinion of the movie, and yes, Leo is great!

      -James

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  5. In my own review for Great Gatsby, I gave it a positive review. It is the best adaptation of GG so far (especially compared to the deadly dull Mia Farrow/Robert Redford version). Luhrmann is always going to be style over substance, but if we accept that we can enjoy the visual spectacle of it.

    In terms of acting, I think everyone did what was asked. Daisy WAS suppose to be rather ethereal, and Mulligan played her as such. I thought Edgerton and especially Elizabeth Debicki (who played Jordan) were really good in their roles, and I agree DiCaprio was solid as Gatsby (the 'old sport' WAS also meant to be deliberately fake...Gatsby's idea of what an upper-crust man sounded like). Maybe people disliked Maguire because he came across as TOO naïve as Nick given he's suppose to be 30 (but looks like he's 20), but I didn't think it was terrible.

    I HATED the framing device of Nick in an institution (not from the book, not necessary), as well as other changes from the book (no Nick/Jordan romance) and the musical choices were odd (typical Luhrmann to mix modern music w/past settings, like in Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge). On the whole, it was better than I expected.

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    1. My review is positive, and it would be "Fresh" on the Tomato meter if I was rating it that way. I have not seen the other adaptions of the book, but considering what you said, I really have no reason to do so.

      Okay, good point about Daisy, but she still felt off somehow. Edgerton and Debicki were fine, but nothing particularly notable to me. That's interesting about the "old sport" part, and I did like Leo's delivery. Maguire still looks young for a guy that is nearly 40! But I have always liked the guy.

      For me, the movie was slightly worse than expected, but our expectations were entirely different.

      Thanks for the long and informative comment Rick!

      -James

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  6. Gah, I sat down to comment twice today and stuff an' things kept getting in the way!!

    I'm like you as I have not read the book and didn't know what would happen when I watched the movie! I liked it, but no more than 'like'. I appreciated the comparisons to modern day life with the modern music as a reminder that it was just as bad morally back then, even though we like to think it was better. Leo was fantastic and I really loved Toby as Nick; they were my two favorite characters. Daisy ticked me off at the end by her choices, though. :( It was fun seeing the girl from Blink, though (I've also seen her from another smaller, mystery film.)

    ~Jamie

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One rule: No strong profanity. If you want to link to one of your posts, please do; I am always interested in other reviews and such.

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