Greek Island, Italians, Germans, WAR... Bad Acting!

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2002)

I remember the fuss & bother about the original book's publication & since then I've come across a seemingly endless number of people who've bought it, but never finished it. If the film is anything to go by, I can understand why.
First of all the film has the natural advantage of being set in the Mediteranean, so you get the beautiful backgrounds of the sea, blue skies, lush olive groves & so on. Although I have no idea if it was filmed in the Greek islands that's what fills the screen & it's pleasing on the eye. The CGI German Stukas still look unreal, proving that the computer programmers have a long way to go even before they can replace objects, let alone people, but CGI is only to be expected when showing such rare aircraft in the massed formations used in World War 2. Gone are the days when films such as The Battle of Britain, or The Battle of Midway could be filmed with the real thing! Those ex-mlitary aircraft, once so plentiful to film studios when the airforces of the world fianlly got rid of their old piston engined fighters in the 1960s, have long since passed into museums & private collections.
As for the story, well I kept waiting for something to happen & all I got were a few fizzles & ultimately dissapointment. What does happen is so predicatable it's not worth the wait. The too-ing & fro-ing between the characters played by John Hurt, Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz & Chris Bale is yawnfully cliched & tired old stuff. Oh yes, it's a love triangle... how novel....'scuse me while I catch up on my sleep. There was one minor highlight very early on, where the town fathers wouldn't surrender to the Italians & insisted on a German officer instead, but that was about it.
It doesn't even try to maintain accuracy, like when the sea-mine is exploded. Yes it's nice to finally see something of what an explosion REALLY does & not what Hollywood likes to make you see, but the simple fact is that sea mines contained a ton or half a ton of explosives & despite the sand-bagged bunker Corelli used he'd be minced meat, quite literally so.
Also, can anyone tell me if the Germans ever used landing craft with drop fronts? As far as I was aware they never had anything like this in WW2. Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect that modern day landing craft were used as the sight of barges lazily ploughing their way across the Aegean wasn't so dramatic.
As for the actors, well Nicholas Cage should give up hopes of ever putting on an accent ever again. It was AWFUL! Overall he wasn't convincing either, something I can't put my finger on, but he was woefully miscast in the part of Corelli.
As for Penelope Cruz.....well she's as sour faced as ever & simply uninteresting. Although the latter may have been a product of the overall disinterest I had in the film I have since seen her in the far more interesting "Blow" & the same impression lingered. She has a nice figure, no doubt about it, & the guys will cheer when she gets her top off for a roll in the hay with Corelli. But she's got that Audrey Hepburn thin neck/big head combination that looks like she will break at any moment. It also makes her look anorexic at times too.
John Hurt ( the Brit') discharges his role with understated ease....aided by the fact that his character seemingly doesn't have much to do, despite being center stage for a lot of the time.
Chris Bale wanders around as the third corner of the Cruz/Cage menage au trois, alternating between heroic, sympathetic, pathetic, to rebelious. All in all I'm left with the conclusion that the story simply doesn't give the actors enough to do. Nick Cage's Corelli does seemingly have an indestructable nature, he survives being bombed, shot & blown up (the sea mine incident), to return to his beloved greek girl (Cruz). The earthquake of 1947 is shown, why I don't know, maybe it was a real incident that had to be worked into the story, but it just seems to happen & what it's supposed to mean I'm not at all sure.
It's hard to be so down on a movie, but that's the way it goes with something like this. I'm glad to say that the night wasn't wasted, I'd rented "The Rutles", so had plenty to laugh at this week (a BBC comedy, half Monty Python, Half Saturday Night Live based on the life of the Beatles & the inspiration for "This Is Spinal Tap"...try it, you won't be disapointed).
For those who rent this on DVD, forget any bonus material, no cut scenes, out takes, behind the scenes, or "making of" stuff, completeing on DVD the overall disapointment of the film.