More than Accurtate

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2013)

The trailers for this movie made it appear overly-glitzy and raunchy. The movie is neither.
The High Points:
-The acting in the movie is superb. I like this movie more than any other version because it makes the characters all vulnerable in some way, which, in turn, makes them more human. DiCaprio plays a likable Jay Gatsby whose facade includes an accent, which he drops when he finally has Daisy.
-The visuals are stunning. Most of them I thought to be real: Gatsby's House, The exterior of the Buchannan Mansion, the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg. All of which are CGI. For art, this movie gets a huge A by me.
-The accuracy is 98% to the book, with the exception of Gatsby's funeral, which is cut short, and his father is left entirely out of it. They also add the idea of Nick being in a mental institution, which, I believe, was supposed to be like Fitzgerald's wife, who was institutionalized three times for alcoholism and fits of anger.
-The soundtrack is a clever blend of 1920s Jazz - Bryan Ferry's orchestra sounds amazing! The combination of orchestral score and modern music - like Myrtle's death: Jack White blended with orchestra - is perfect to set the mood. I was on the edge of my seat awaiting for Myrtle's grizzly end.
-Which leads me to my next high point. The death scenes and the violence was all artistically done. When Gatsby gets shot, we only see a bit of blood. No gory wound to show what happened. We don't even see Wilson shoot himself - aside from putting the pistol him his mouth. And Myrtle's death is so well done, from the fact that just as she gets hit, a car passes by the camera, shielding us from the impact, and falling in slow motion with the eyes in the background. All well done.
The Low Points:
-Though there are no real LOW points, I will point out things which could have made this movie even better. Firstly, the relationship with Jordan and Nick is glossed over to make room for the Gatsby/Daisy relationship. Almost the entire movie is centered around Gatsby and Daisy's relationship.
-The ending of the movie was a little different, mainly that they did not include Gatsby's father, which I believe, is an important part. Nick does not meet Tom again, in the scene where we learn that Tom told Wilson that Gatsby killed Myrtle. That was included when Tom first finds that Myrtle is killed. I guess they did it for time. Other than that, this was an awesome movie.
Get it on DVD. It's worth it.
9/10 for missing a few parts at the end.