Great visuals, Superficial plot

Rating: 5/10 (18 January 2011)

Visuals and cinematography are mostly what carry this film, although the acting is good. The problem is how much one must suspend one's common sense to be satisfied with this film. The main plot line for the girl, Briony, works well, but it's almost as if we see all the other characters and plot lines through a 13-year-old's mind (albeit a precocious 13-year-old). Adults act as if they were all characters in her play, a play with characters like mindless pawns rather than intelligent, educated human beings. The central crisis--that a 13-year-old's testimony would be sufficient to override all evidence of innocence and divert the authorities from considering other possible suspects--is just not believable.
A truly great film, like a great book, is worthy of being mulled over. Atonement fails that test.