Sorry to say it old sport, but this film gets a thumbs down from me.
I’m willing to admit that I am not the biggest fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby,” but after watching Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the story I would much rather read the book again than watch the film again.
The movie is, of course, the story of the mysterious Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his lust and wanting for his former lover Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), told by Daisy’s cousin Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire). Will Gatsby and Daisy get together in the end or will they be doomed to stay apart?
The first big problem is that the film’s pacing and editing are all over the place. There are far too many scenes where the dialogue, which should be used to develop character, is just glossed over and rushed through. The biggest example of this is when Gatsby and Carraway go for a drive, and while the car is zooming and whizzing past everything, we can hear Gatsby talk and they do not give it the attention it deserves. We can also clearly see that the audio does not match up the images.
There are also sections when scenes and moments take far longer than they should. The most obvious example of this is during any and all scenes where there is a party going on. I understand that they have to establish the scene and everything, but the filmmakers just keep showing more and more of the partying and it does not add anything outside of reminding the audience that the scene is taking place at a party.
Speaking of the party scenes, the film brings up the theme of “money can’t buy happiness” which was a theme in the original book, but the film completely misses the mark because every party scene is not given any sense of being shallow and unfulfilling. The scenes come off more as dance party music videos instead of a commentary on society.
There’s no real sense of weight or importance to many of the scenes, and some of the characters only show up when the story calls for them. The characters that do appear for more than a few scenes aren’t engaging either. The film tries to portray Gatsby as an optimistic with his dreams of being with Daisy, but instead of coming off as hopeful he comes off more as psychotic and almost stalker-like.
The character of Nick Carraway was just there for most of the scenes and didn’t really contribute much. Also, I hate to say this, but the chemistry between the actors isn’t very strong. I don’t buy the passion and romance of Gatsby and Daisy. I don’t buy the friendship of Gatsby and Nick. It’s a great shame because these actors have shown that they are legitimately talented. I especially hate giving these critiques to Carey Mulligan. The strongest performance in the film goes to Joel Edgerton who plays Daisy’s husband Tom.
In conclusion, while the Great Gatsby has many great set pieces and wonderful cinematography, but there isn’t much to it and I feel that even fans of the book won’t like this film.
