This movie is a masterpiece.

Rating: 8/10 (21 April 2014)

Unless you've read Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, you won't care much for what my review has to say of Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of it. Firstly, I must admit that I absolutely adored this movie; that is, I enjoyed it the third time I watched it and each time after that. It took several sit downs and multiple discussions with fellow Fitzgerald fans to come to the conclusion that despite the many elements of the movie that were either different from the book or at best portrayed poorly, The Great Gatsby is an excellent movie. However, I cannot praise the film until I acknowledge which parts of the movie irritated me. While the party scenes and the interior of the characters' homes were convincing and impressive, everything set outdoors or in fast movement was too obviously computer generated. I was personally bothered by every driving scene because the visuals looked so fake. Speaking of fake, I became more annoyed as the movie progressed by the obnoxious accent of Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Jay Gatsby. As a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, I was expecting an exemplary performance, and I truly was excited about his movie character! It was much easier to love than his book character, which made the film's ending more tragic. He perfectly portrayed his character as an innocent young boy in love with a girl who broke his heart. Everything he did was driven by his love for Daisy, which is presented as a much greater shock in the movie than in the book because of the lavish, extravagant style of its director, Baz Luhrmann. The symbolism was so beautifully laden throughout Fitzgerald's book, though, that the movie's lack of recognition for the "Valley of Ashes" and "Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, Occulist" sign's significance was disappointing. The subtle romance behind the green light was also lost, as the green light in the movie was nearly blinding- it was far from subtle. The most prominent problem I found with the movie the first couple times I watched it was Tobey Maguire's version of Nick Carraway. The Nick of Fitzgerald's novel was practical, passive, and stereotypically "plain." Maguire's Nick is simply not the same Nick that Gatsby readers know and love! Rather, this Nick is narrating the entire movie from a sanitarium where he is recovering from alcoholism. After interrupting his narration in the very beginning of the movie by stating, "I don't want to talk about this anymore, Doctor," the doctor responds, "Then write about it." The remainder of the movie, then, is an illustration of the novel Nick Carraway writes as he attempts to regain sanity! That blow was too overwhelming to process until the third time I watched the film. At that point, I had come to grips with this new adaptation of Fitzgerald's brilliant masterpiece and was able to watch without predetermined hatred. That's when I realized what an excellent decision Luhrmann had made by giving Nick a legitimate reason to tell the story! It gave Nick's plain, almost boring character depth. It made him intriguing. And it made the entirety of the film more impactful. Yes, it gave me a slightly depressed disposition the first couple times I watched it, but I love this giant aspect of Nick's character that I hadn't even considered before watching the movie. Again, if you haven't read The Great Gatsby, stop reading now as I'm about to reveal the biggest spoiler of the entire movie: every major character dies except for Nick, who ends up in rehab, and the two people who caused the deaths. These two characters, one of whom was obsessively adored by Gatsby, seemed careless toward the fact that they had destroyed multiple lives. They leave town without so much as a condolence or farewell. I definitely felt hatred for these two characters as I read the book, but it was nothing compared to the overwhelming feeling I experienced as I watched the movie. As much as I'd love to say I wasn't rooting for an affair between Gatsby and the already married Daisy, I was heartbroken by Daisy's coldness and blatant disregard for the man who had spent his entire career attempting to be worthy of her. As her husband Tom cheated on her in broad daylight, Daisy remained tolerant of him for one reason: his wealth. She was hardly the ditzy, innocent, flawless beauty she was made up to be in the book and beginning of the movie. I greatly appreciated that her cunning nature was more exposed by the movie. One more aspect of the movie I loved was the soundtrack. Though many critics complain of the way modern music was paired with a movie set in the 1920's, I thought each scene's music was orchestrated perfectly and I was personally crazy about each song chosen for the film. In conclusion, I highly suggest this movie. I do think it would have been a more quality film if it had been less obnoxiously colorful and without DiCaprio's horrid accent, but I thoroughly enjoyed this interpretation of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.