Very entertaining but overlong

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2006)

I have not read the book, but the movie was pretty entertaining to me anyway. Now for my constructive criticism:
Ron Howard was not the best director they could have found for this, because he's too manipulative. The music swells every time something dramatic happens, and that gets really annoying after awhile. The cinematography was actually very good; everything is captured onto celluloid in a beautiful way. They managed to avoid a "shaky" camera during the chase scenes, which was commendable. Every director seems to be keen to use shaky cams these days, and it is very annoying/nauseating, so this film gets the props for that. The script was good, although not airtight, and I am sure the book is better in this case (from what other people are saying, anyway). The music was O.K. although it was very forgettable (I don't remember any of it).
So is it entertaining or not? Heck yes! It might have been loads less entertaining if I had read the book beforehand, because the uniqueness of it all would be taken away, but I digress. I sat there very entertained for 2 hours, only to have it get too drawn out near the end. This also could be due to the fact it was an 11PM showing, and we got out of the theater at 2AM (and I was dead tired by that point), but still. I could tell that there were other people in the audience getting restless too, so it wasn't just me. They should have condensed some of the scenes to make it about two hours max, but of course they didn't (I'm looking at you, Mr Howard). With a different director (although I'm not sure who), this could have been THE best movie of the year. Actually, it still is one of the best movies I've seen this year. It sounds like I'm being too critical, but meh, its what I do. Highly entertaining but overlong; enjoyable nonetheless. Verdict:
7 out of 10: recommended.