A mere shadow of the book, but still good

Rating: 6/10 (4 March 2008)

OK, so what really, really frustrates me about this movie is that it could actually have been great. Let me start by saying that the book engaged me to the point where I got so frustrated with the two central characters - Captain Corelli and Pelagia - that I actually hurled the book at the wall. Rarely has any book touched me so deeply. You really get to know and love the characters. Therefore, to try and incorporate the book into just over two hours is just insane, as for one thing, you don't get the scale of this love affair which goes on over decades. When I found out that Nic Cage was to play the Captain, I was thrilled. When I then found out that Christian Bale was to play Mandras, John Hurt to play Pelagia's father and David Morrissey to play Weber, I was ecstatic and couldn't wait for the film to be completed. Effectively, all the right ingredients were there for this to be a classic. When I subsequently went to see the film, I was underwhelmed, annoyed and disappointed. The film actually looks beautiful but it only has about half the story in it. The development of the Carlos' character is sadly lacking. Major liberties have been taken with some of the central events in the book. For me, this should have been at least 200 minutes long in order to adequately do justice to the book. A Greek tragedy but not in the right way.