Felt longer than the entire BBC series

Rating: 3/10 (5 October 2005)

This production felt extremely flat and somehow managed to bore most of the people in the theatre. Kiera Knightley was okay but she'd basically ripped off her performance from Jennifer Ehle. Matthew MacFayden was wooden. One mark of a poor film is a high number of close-ups. Directors can use them to hide turgid acting or characters that do not gel. Joe Wright's film is full of close-ups. It is also full of fancy rotating tracking shots that cannot cover up the fact that the film feels flat and lifeless. The dipping in and out of conversations by tracking an entire house or party also leaves one unable to get involved with any of the characters. The result? You simply do not care what happens to any of them and none of the relationships in the film develop any chemistry. None of the romances and none of the sibling/sibling or even parent/child relations. And the final scene? What a lacklustre way to end this great story?! Some nice shots of the English countryside, but they've been seen before. Do not believe the critics or the advertising. And ask yourself how many people reviewing on IMDb work for or represent the studio. This is not a patch on the BBC production and even if that version had not existed, this would still be a lousy movie. It made two hours feel like eight.