Pretty good but not memorable

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2008)

Did this movie live up to the hype?No,not really.It is a watchable film to be sure but at the end of the day I felt it was OK and nothing better than that.
I won't go over the plot of the film as I am guessing that you have already watched it.It is a good story and very well filmed but I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters at all and felt no emotion throughout the film.It is nicely directed by Joe Wright although I did feel that the Dunkirk sequence was overdone and almost felt as though it was the directors way of showing how clever he was.He does do a good job overall though in fairness to him.Acting wise,James McAvoy was fine as Robbie but Keira Knightley was average at best and I am puzzled that a lot of people were pushing for her to be nominated for an Oscar.She struggled at times to show emotion and though her performance is reasonable,believe me we are NOT talking about award winning stuff here.The two best performances for me were from Saoirse Ronan as the young Briony and Vanessa Redgrave as the old.They are both excellent and the best things about the film.
So 'Atonement' is a pretty good watch but not for me a classic.It is one of those films that I was struggling to mark,maybe a 6 or a 7.I decided on a 6 finally because it isn't a film that I would watch again.