Amazing

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2008)

Revolutionary Road is the new powerful drama from Sam Mendes. It starts off with April and Frank first meeting, they meet at a party and they start to have a conversation. She wants to be actress, but it turns out that she isn't that great, and Frank finds that out while watching one of her plays. Many years pass and it shows Frank at work, he's not too happy with his job, and apparently he's not too happy with his marriage because he starts to have an affair with one of the girls at his work. But then he goes home to find his wife and kids were throwing him a little 30th birthday party. But Frank and April are both sick of their current life, so after talking with each other they decide they need a new life and plan to move to Paris. Frank then starts to fade away from the idea once he gets offered a better job at his current work place, and then they find out something else that ultimately makes them stay in their current life. April isn't happy with this life though and she really can't stand this life anymore. Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, David Harbour, Kathryn Hahn, and Michael Shannon all star in this incredible drama.
The acting from the entire cast is incredible; I don't think there was even one bad acting moment from anyone in the cast. Leonardo DiCaprio shines out of this cast the best by far, I wouldn't be surprised if he wins 'Best Actor' at this year's academy awards, and I'm going to be upset if he doesn't at least get nominated because he definitely deserves it. He really stood out in once scene alone when he's fighting and arguing with Kate Winslet's character. Kate Winslet was also amazing, not quite as amazing as DiCaprio though, I can definitely see her getting nominated for 'Best Actress' though, I'm not sure I see her winning though, I could be surprised though. Kathy Bates was great for the parts she was in, she constantly appears throughout the whole movie, and the scenes she was in were great though. David Harbour was also really good; I really liked his character in this though, just the stuff that happened with his character was great. Kathryn Hahn was good, her character seemed to really freak me out though, just the smile that she had on her face throughout the movie. Michael Shannon was the best out of the cast after DiCaprio and Winslet though, I've seen him in some small roles before but I never really noticed that he had great acting though. I mean his role in this was pretty small too, but the parts he was in were just amazing, I was completely blown away by his acting. His character was supposed to be messed up in the head though, and he did a great job showing it.
The story for this was great; it started off a little slow though IMO. Some of this really reminded me of American Beauty, I think if you liked American Beauty you should check this one out, because it wasn't like exactly the same thing or anything, but the concept was sort of like American Beauty. I was glued to the movie right up until the last 25 minutes or so, I mean I think this has one of the best and most emotional scenes that I've ever seen in the movie, and it was towards the end. But I feel after that scene, the ending just gets dry right up until the last 5 minutes or so, and then it really got me interested in it again. I didn't mind that the ending was dry much though, because the rest of the movie before that really made up for the dry ending. The acting sort of stole the show from the story though, but that doesn't mean the story was bad or anything, just that the acting was amazing.
Overall I absolutely loved it, I think this is probably tied with The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button as my second favorite movie of the year, but I still have quite a few movies to see from this year first though, so that may be flip flopping around some. Also like Benjamin Button, I think this is probably going to make it somewhere between the 20 and 30 spot in my favorites list. I think in the end I may end up liking this more than Benjamin Button though because I'm pretty sure that this will have a better rewatchabilty standard than Benjamin Button. This has to be like my favorite movie from Sam Mendes, I'd have to re-watch American Beauty and Road To Perdition just make sure though, but I'm still pretty sure. This for me actually lived up to the hype, because I was hyping myself up to watch this a little because I thought the trailer looked amazing and it definitely deserved it. I can also definitely see this snagging 'Best Picture' at the academy awards this year though, but if you're one of the ones lucky enough to have this playing at a theater near you, I suggest you go and see it before it leaves because it's definitely worth the price of an admission price.
9.5/10