Worth seeing but not a masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2008)

I really enjoyed this but the rather grandiose production did detract from the focus of the inner lives of the characters. As an Ian McEwan fan I did expect a bit better, though I hadn't read Atonement before seeing it. I'm thinking this is not one of his better novels, but then again any sort of translation of stories that focus around characters and not plot is difficult. I suppose my disappointment was the plot was the winner over the characters. It has a nice twist at the end that saves it from being too formulaic. Kiera Knightly is superb. The beach scenes I was reminded by my friend are rather reminiscent of Titanic, as is the whole plot, and that's not a compliment I'm afraid. But still, you do care about them and really want them to succeed in coming together in the end, which they do in a way.