Exhilarating!

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2009)

Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" is at the same time a blur and a rush of color, emotion, and action. It moves so fast that one would think that it would be in danger of getting the audience lost, but no. Boyle may go a little over the top in directorial style, but the audience is with the movie every step of the way.
Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is on India's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Question by question, he gets them all correct and is racking up a huge amount of cash. So much so, that the host (Anil Kapoor) thinks he's cheating. But under interrogation, he reveals how he knows the answers through flashbacks of his life.
While the story could (and for the most part, does) succeed on its own, Danny Boyle turns it into a director's show. Mostly, it works. He draws us into the story and keeps things moving. Unfortunately though, sometimes the quick cuts become a bit much, and the frantic pace allows for only limited character development and identification.
Fortunately though, his actors are so good that it doesn't matter...almost. The trio of actors that portray Jamal (at various stages in his life) create a protagonist that is impossible not to root for. Likewise, the actors and actresses that play the other two central characters (Latika and Saleem) are very effective as well. The very root of the story is the romance between Jamal and Latika, and the performers deliver (particularly Patel and Frieda Pinto).
"Slumdog Millionaire" is a terrific movie, and though Boyle draws us in and keeps us there, ultimately its the actors who make it special.