I will never make the same mistake again!

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2008)

I would Like to start of by saying that generally period dramas aren't my thing, i get very quickly bored with them and tend to switch of within the first minutes of watching. Much the same with Atonement i had low expectations from the start, luckily for me my brother convinced me to carry on watching. The film i saw then has changed the way i see such films, never again will i write off a film because it looks 'boring'.
It is hard to know where to start with a film such as this as nothing really stands out, instead it is all perfect. The logical way to start would be to describe the story line, yet it is also hard to do that as it is hard to know how without ruining the film or making it seem 'boring'. Instead i will say that it is something that needs to be seen.
The acting is excellent with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy giving what only can be described as the performances of their respective careers. In addition Saoirse Ronan (who plays the 13 year old Briony) is the most promising child actor since Dakota Fanning.
However it was not only Saoirse Ronan who showed true promise in this film. Atonement has also brought to my attention the promising talents of director David Wright who up until now was unknown to me, (having only made pride and prejudice) and undeservedly so. His direction was amazing, especially in the scenes in France which somehow managed to portray the true horror of war without showing the slightest of conflict.
Their is one problem with this film however and that is that their is nothing bad about it. This may sound a bit strange but i always like to have a rant about something that annoyed me about a film(such as plot holes or bad characterisation), but for Atonement their is nothing. I could say i feel cheated by the ending which does make you question the film slightly, but that would not be true because it is so well done that they could have all turned out to be aliens in the end and i would still have enjoyed it.
Finally i have only one thing to say to people who haven't seen this film yet.Watch it. Now!