kari_d

I have really liked Leonardo DiCaprio's films since he came back from his hiatus (esp Blood Diamond). However, this one was quite forgettable. I enjoyed the movie when I was in the theater and left thinking "Huh. That was pretty good". But the week after someone asked what movie I saw and I couldn't remember. It reminded me a lot of "The Kingdom" actually (the feel, not the details). It was a very well made film, dialog and script were good, just nothing really stood out and grabbed me. Leo was the shine, he is such a talented actor and I was happy to see him in a great role. I just wish the plot had something fantastic in it to make it into a great film.

I was disappointed. I read the books, which were fine (not terribly great, but pretty good for a young author). I knew from reading previous reviews that the movie deviated from the book a lot. I was prepared to keep an open mind and view the film as it is, and not what the book is. I was looking forward to it! The sets were beautiful, had a good cast, CGI was fantastic (great Saphira!), and a prepared storyline – what went wrong? The two biggest problems were: the terrible dialog and the overly dramatic music (made you roll your eyes). Both could have been remedied with a longer movie. They crammed it all in to an hour and a half. They didn't have time to flesh out the characters, develop the plot – so the dialog was sparse, often cheesy, and just didn't make you like the characters. It felt forced. Jeremy Irons is a great Brom!! Too bad his lines were so lame. What was that scene with Angela? The scene with the Urgals working – you could tell they were just trying to look busy. You could see through the "acting" because the time was so short, they had nothing to do. I also felt they tried to make the Urgals into too much like the Uruks of the LoTR. The overly dramatic music worked in Lord of the Rings because it was a longer movie and so were able to really hook you into the world. You weren't "in" this world. You weren't part of the problems. The music felt corny. I felt like they tried to make it like Lord of the Rings, but failed because you just can't do it in 1hr 42 min. That's why the LoTR movies were up near the 3hr mark. Granted, I'm not saying make this a 3hr movie. But a good 2 or 2.5 hours, better dialog, more attention to detail (Arya's ears), more character development (mention Hrothgar, Naduada) sure would have helped. Too bad. My husband, who didn't read the books, gave it a 6.8.

I surprisingly enjoyed the movie more than I thought and would give it a solid 7. It was well scripted, the filming was fantastic, and the acting was good - it was a very pleasant movie. I read the book, so I knew what the plot was about, so no surprises there (although I wish it included one detail that was in the book about the shooting). There was nothing truly spectacular or exciting to give it an 8 (but nothing truly spectacular happens in the book either, so the movie couldn't really change that), but nothing terrible/poor script/poor acting, which you usually find a bit of in a 6 or 6.5 stars. I saw it in the theater and it was the perfect "girls night out" movie. Also good for mother/daughter. Otherwise, wouldn't pay $10 to see it. It would be a great rental - see once and return.