Disappointing, but definitely watchable

Rating: 5/10 (21 July 2010)

If you haven't read the book, I recommend you do so, it was truly beautiful, heart-breaking, funny, incredibly romantic and had interesting characters and left vivid imagery in your head. This film from Shakespeare in Love director John Madden is definitely watchable, but it was also a disappointment.
Starting with the good things, the scenery, costumes and cinematography are absolutely breathtaking. On top of that the score is absolutely marvellous, Madden's direction is pretty good-though he has directed better especially with the Inspector Morse episodes he directed- and the story is a beautiful and interesting one, with some sweet, funny and touching moments.
In terms of acting, it is a mixed bag really. Christian Bale does well with a character that could have done with more development, while John Hurt is even better, Hurt is a brilliant and underrated actor, and playing one of the more intriguing characters he is wonderfully dignified. However, Nicolas Cage is a miscast unfortunately-right, I have nothing against Cage, he has been in some good films and has given some good performances but he has also been very inconsistent. While his role here is not his worst film role(ie. his role in The Wicker Man remake was much worse), his character felt somewhat cartoony complete with an accent that didn't really work as it feels overdone. Penelope Cruz is better though, I did have a problem with her accent (too Spanish for my liking), she does have a nice character to work with and looks amazing.
While the acting was a mixed bag and the score and scenery amazing, there are several flaws that stop Captain Corelli's Mandolin from being better than it was. Other reviewers have commented on its resemblance to the book(or lack of it), but there were other things wrong that were more significant to me. Also the book, while wonderful, is quite an ambitious one to bring to screen and I do accept that it wasn't 100% faithful(there have been films that try to do that and don't quite work as a consequence), so while I applaud the film for adapting it it could have been better. The pacing is very languid so the film takes a while to get going, until the final battle segment which felt rushed, while the dialogue is on the sappy side of things. Then there are characters that feel sketched over, I was too disappointed at how Carlo was treated, while some of the secondary characters are rather clichéd and perhaps stereotypical.
Overall, disappointing but definitely watching for the scenery, Hurt and music especially. 5.5/10 Bethany Cox