opportunity missed

Rating: 7/10 (5 January 2014)

This is a very basic review of the movie and in my humble opinion a GREAT opportunity missed. The plot is excellent, the acting is genuinely outstanding: Bale, Adams and Lawrence are absolutely at the top of their game and could make an argument for being the top three actors around at the moment - this is not to slight Bradley Cooper he is excellent, but the level the others are at is fantastic.
The miss? Well great plot and amazing actors SHOULD mean a better film. I am no expert but the Director must take responsibility for this. There were SO many scenes where the acting made it work but you always felt it could have been even better - damn was annoying. Additionally. "support" actors were for example Robert De Niro - doing something for which he is "the man" and Jeremey Renner for goodness sake.
a film not compared to this so far is The Departed -which is stellar cast great acting AND great directing. Damn