Much Ado ABout Nothing

Rating: 6/10 (2 November 2008)

That's a fitting description of this over-hyped film. Apparently, period clothes, war & scenery are good substitutes for a solid story. Beautiful scenery & cinematography, but ultimately Atonement does not deliver what all the critics say it does.
It doesn't have much substance. If you watch it carefully, you'll see what I mean. The story's main factors are the supposedly heartbreaking separation of two young people & the atonement for the one responsible for it. However, we're never really shown that they are in love. It seems as if they're merely horny teenagers. Ironically, Robbie rightfully states at one point that all they had were a few moments in a library.
Based on the book by Ian McEwan, Atonement revolves around the wealthy Tallis family & a horrible incident one summer. Briony (Saorise Ronan) is a precocious 13-year-old with ambitions for a writing career. She has a crush on Robbie (James McAvoy), the family's servant boy. Cecilia (Keira Knightley) is Briony's older sister, a young, moody, bored heiress. We're shown that she runs hot and cold towards Robbie. He's well mannered, respectful, ambitious & generally a 'nice' young man. This 'nice' boy writes a vulgar letter to Cecilia, with whom he is infatuated. He accidentally gives it to Briony to deliver, thinking he's sending an apology note. Briony reads it, then gives it to her sister. It serves as a catalyst for the initiation of R & C's 'relationship', & they have sex in the library (thank GOD for DVD. I'd recommend fast-forwarding thru the sex scene like I did; it's unnecessary, as all such scenes, stupid...I also got the impression it was long). Briony walks in & sees them. This,(together with the letter & Briony's previous witness of a suggestive encounter) is crucial is twisting Briony's imagination for the worst. She then falsely testifies that Robbie raped her cousin.
That's the set up for the movie. The majority of it is told through a series of flashbacks and time repeats. We're never shown WHY R & C should be together, WHY they're in love, yet the movie forces you to sympathize with their plight. Robbie spends some time in jail, but when offered the choice of going to war, he does. Cecilia shuns her family & goes on her own to wait for him, because she's suddenly so in love. Briony decides to punish herself by forgoing university education & choosing to train as a nurse. Director Joe Wright doesn't bother to show the heart of any of these events, their beginning or the gradual effects on the characters. You'd think he would, considering that they're the major consequences of Briony's actions & crucial to the story. He just plops you down in the middle of it, and you're expected to feel R & C's pain, the Tallis family's pain at Cecilia's estrangement, & Briony's repentance.
The movie does give some feeling of regret and hopelessness, but it's mostly superficial & not for R & C. It's for Robbie as an individual stuck in the horror of war when he doesn't want to be, and for Briony as someone trying to atone & find peace with herself. Some of the war scenes could've been replaced with scenes that give the movie a more solid foundation. It just feels too heavy-handed and halfway, as if the makers intended it to be great, but got lost in production details & forgot small things called the script & plot. Great job with the production, though; use of extras, sets, visuals and camera work are commendable. Knightley's wardrobe seems a little risqué for the 1940's, & I suppose it was to emphasize the physical attraction between her & Robbie, on which their relationship seems to be based.
The performances were generally good, a little overrated. McAvoy's character doesn't have enough to leave a strong impression. He does well with what he has, as he's done with his other roles I've seen. He's natural & not distracting from the character. Knightley is same old, same old. Despite the script, she could've shown more depth. She needs to change her body language for roles & stop talking like there's gum in the back of her mouth. She's overrated by the critics imo, but at least she doesn't give the 'on cue, rehearsed' feeling that Rachel McAdams does. All three Brionys (Ronan, Romola Garai & Vanessa Redgrave in chrono. order) are well acted, although I thought the older two could've been more coordinated with the younger. Ronan is excellent, esp with the English accent (I believe she's Irish).
I won't state any other spoiler. I'm glad I didn't see it in theatre. It's nice, not great, & didn't make me want to talk about it, unless it's to say how it could've been better. It doesn't live up to the novel & I wonder if the author is pleased.