Lackluster

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2002)

Didn't know what the movie was about, but upon viewing, it did not inspire like other epic movies of similar genre. It does not have the sense of love-torn apart by undue circumstances and reunited against all odds the movie's description tried to represent.
As far as the actors, I never sensed the chemistry between Penélope Cruz and Nicholas Cage. Penélope Cruz's character Pelagia is convincingly filmed, but when she talks, I don't know what comes out, she isn't even trying to do a Greek accent. Plus anytime she speak English, it sound monotonic and unconvincing, the only variation being her raising her voice. She isn't as bad as she was in other movies, but she still didn't pull it off. It was a big leap of faith for the producers to cast her on a such major role and their gamble did not pay. Nicholas Cage's character Captain Antonio Corelli's Italian accent seems to only have one pitch, and when the acting gets demanding, it disappears.
Even if the 2 characters did fall in love and had their brief fling as depicted in the movie, I fail to see how Penélope Cruz's character fell out of love with her fiancee because she never saw him or had her mail replied (apparently, he can't read,) but could stay in love with Capt Corelli long after he left the island.
Otherwise, the story was decent, with movie going through tragedy, lovers separating and reuniting. The film was beautifully filmed on the Greek isles.