Skip it.

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2004)

First of all, I'll come out and say that I'm a fan of the novel so of course I expected to be disappointed. I didn't, however, expect to be made physically angry. For whatever reason, Hollywood still hasn't seemed to figure out that NOT every good book has to be made into a film. In fact it rarely works, particularly with this Minghella dude at the helm. There was absolutely no chemistry between Law and Kidman, the accents were incredibly poor and ruined any semblance of authenticity, memorable dialogue was completely deleted for no apparent reason whatsoever, and... I could go on and on. In short, it had none of the heart, wit, beauty, and charm of the novel. It amounted to little more than another big budget "epic" that might as well have been called "Hey! Throw me an Oscar!"
Still, I must admit the cinematography and score were top notch. Of course, if I want a collection of pretty pictures and music I'll put together a damn slide show and skip the rental fee. Or maybe I'll read a book.