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Star cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Amitabh Bachchan
What’s Good: The film is grand in its 3D that is exquisitely done. And Leonardo DiCaprio’s stellar performance is the only ingredient that substantiates the movie.
What’s Bad: The film has no spirit or marrow. It is just large slides of overblown grandeur randomly placed in succession without driving home any larger point!
Loo break: None
Watch or Not?: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is a reinvigorated 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel of the same name. Overall, the film is a massive disappointment as it ends up as a shallow debacle which wallows in gaiety and hoopla. The film’s marrow is hollow and mysterious which doesn’t tie up in a solid climax. It is colossally artificial and evidently dishonest and scores only for Leonardo DiCaprio’s flawless depiction of one of literature’s most irresistible heroes – Jay Gatsby! For the pros, the only breathtaking moments the film allows you are its bold Jazz music that resolute potently.
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Dealing with acute depression, Nick narrates and then writes about the only man who personified the concept of hope in his life. Meeting him as his neighbor, Nick encounters Gatsby at one of his majestic fuss and feathers parties. The real reason of Gatsby’s cue to befriend him turns out to his interest in rekindling an old affair with Nick’s cousin Daisy. The story that flows is haunting tale of passion, lust, friendship and deceit, in the lives of the elite!
The Great Gatsby Review: Script Analysis
Based on one of world literature’s most celebrated works, the film is a debauchery of the film’s period and style more than its content. The story against the backdrop of 1920s’ New York is resonant of the glamorous and rising period of that era. The script itself is deemed fantastic by readers for generations; it is the director’s warped up perception that is depreciating and trivial. There are a host of problems with the film’s script, the foremost one being that Luhrmann’s Gatsby doesn’t even remotely resemble the unassailable aura that Fitzgerald had weaved mystically. The director lost his command on the film’s narrative and gets entrapped in the pompous show of gorgeous taste that he constantly harps on for the entire first part. The second part fails for being unsuccessful at conveying the layers and subtleties of the plot which makes multiple commentaries in a matter of few words!
The Great Gatsby Review: Star Performances
Leonardo DiCaprio’s depiction of grandiose is done with inexplicable taste and standard. His voice is mesmerizing; this blue eyed lad is perhaps the best thing that happened to this film. He is suave, he looks intoxicating, he has lived in the skin of Gatsby to get all its nuances so smoothly.
Carey Mulligan seems lifeless from the onset. It is hard to recognize her in the meaty character that she has been assigned. Mostly, she doesn’t qualify legitimate or convincing enough to be Gatsby’s eloquent past love he still holds dearly. Yet, I managed to claw out a few touching moments of the actress, more towards the end as her character dwindles torn between the fantasies of her husband and lover.
Despite Mulligan delivering a dull feat, in scenes, the chemistry of DiCaprio and hers manage to emit some warmth and tenderness venturing close to plausibility.
Tobey Maguire, is zealous in his stint and does it with conviction and ease. His bonding with DiCaprio remains the film’s most magical bits. The chemistry between the film’s male leads glowers as instances of pivotal stronghold for the story.
Joel Edgerton lacks the spontaneity to deliver and hence give a flat performance.
For Bollywood audiences, it is satiating to see Amitabh Bachchan play Jewish mafia lord Wolfsheim so ecstatically and glamorously. You’ll end up famished demanding more of his notoriety.
The Great Gatsby Review: Direction, Music and Editing
Luhrmann’s Gatsby is calculative, misplaced and abrupt. The scriptwriters have managed to merely work on the book’s synopsis, forgetting to detail the characters at all. However, it does manage to catch the main plot’s mood of hurtling and ornate frames. Beyond that the narrative with its flimsy characters steals away the power of its climax. The camera work deserves a strong mention for meticulously building the New York of the 1920s so believably. The music is stellar and breathtaking. However, it is the needless use of 3D that adds to the film’s insensitivity and artificiality. The sense of sorrow that DiCaprio manages to evoke with his acting prowess is flushed with all the fakeness in the film.
The Great Gatsby Review: The Last Word
The Great Gatsby is a perfect example of all phantasmagorias and no substance. Quoting Fitzgerald for their rescue in an attempt to save their loose screenplay, the film barely invokes a few heartfelt moments. Eroding the power of a classic, it is only Leonardo DiCaprio who delivers magnanimously. If you can withstand pompous show, you wouldn’t mind this. But if you are a lover of the novel, it is advised you to refrain from watching it! I am going with a 2.5/5 for this one.Its lack of tenderness, beauty and subtlety butchers the script at the altar of grandeur which just did not work for me!
The Great Gatsby Trailer
The Great Gatsby will release on 17th April, 2013.
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