Not bad, not great

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2015)

I don't think this film was great. Tom Hooper being behind the camera kind of prevents that from happening, although surprisingly enough, I didn't think he interfered here as much as he did with The King's Speech or Les Miserables. I think some of the proceedings and dilemmas are a bit problematic in how they are presented, but overall it was a story I bought. I thought Redmayne was pretty good in the role, he did all it required him to do. The problem is that I don't think the screenplay really went any deeper into a psychologically complex character. I know it's easy to hate him, but he's a very good actor and while I don't think he deserved an Oscar, he still is rather underrated around here. Alicia Vikander also gives so much to her role. In many ways she's the true heart of the film. The fact that she was campaigned as supporting is ridiculous (although not nearly as ridiculous as Jacob Tremblay and Rooney Mara's frauds). I have no idea where she came from before this year, but she's an incredibly talented actress whose career I only hope gets better from here on out.