Serviceable Rather Than Inspired

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2008)

Actor turned director Richard Attenborough helmed this biopic about the famed pacifist and, as frequently happens with biopics, especially when they're about noble and revered figures, turned it into something perfectly respectable and ever so slightly dull.
The film won just about every Academy Award it was nominated for, so that should tell you something right there.
Ben Kingsley does deserve praise for carrying this three-hour epic on his slim shoulders, and the film looks meticulous. But it's serviceable rather than inspired, and if anyone's story deserves an inspired telling, Gandhi's is it.
Grade: B+