"Slumdog" is visually stunning

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2008)

Sex. Love. Death. Fame. Violence. "Slumdog" tells an epic story of greed, love, and redemption in under two hours. With an impressionistic style and economic storytelling, director Danny Boyle has crafted a thoroughly romantic tale of treachery and longing. It's a Movie filled with larger than life Villains and a from the slums Hero trying to secure the treasure, win the princess, and vanquish the dragon. But it's also merely serviceable. A way to pass the time.
While I didn't dislike the film, I think it falls short of the transcendence it wants to achieve. Boyle wants to create an old school love story with over-sized emotions that sweeps you up and leaves you high on its Movie Majesty and celebration of Love. (See also Baz Luhrmann.) Instead, I was left admiring Boyle's editing as the characters are too thin to leave an impression. Also, the motivations of the film's on again off again villain turn on a dime and wholly serve the script rendering him more a device than person. The movie will give you back what you put into it. An impression of transcendence will have to be supplied by the viewer because the filmmaker is too concerned with crafting a whizz bang movie machine.
The film's first fifteen minutes or so are its most gripping. Slum dweller Jamal and his friends play cricket on a nearby airfield and are soon chased away angrily by club wielding cops on scooters. The flight of the slumdogs takes them across the roofs of a Mumbai slum while the screaming police pursue. It's a great, alive scene that gives us an immediate sense of place, poverty, and oppression. Jamal will soon meet the Girl who will become his Quest and repeatedly be hindered by his avaricious brother.
"Slumdog" consistently displays a dynamic visual sense, but leaves much to be desired in the storytelling department. Cynical? Maybe, but the characters are too thin and too motivated by the needs of script to move this viewer.