Not a great watch, but a good one

Rating: 6/10 (25 December 2016)

"The Great Gatsby" is an American English-language movie from 2013 and the writer and director here is Australian Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. The movie is three years old now and it runs for slightly over 2 hours. The title character is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and his co-lead is Tobey Maguire. You will find more known names in here like Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher. Even literature plebs like myself will recognize that the film is based on the literary work by F. Scott Fitzgerald and there have been many adaptations from this one already. The Robert Redford movie won two Oscars and so did this one here as Luhrmann's wife Catherine Martin triumphed in the Costume Design and Production Design categories. And I can totally see why. In terms of the artistic approach, this film is certainly a feast. It is really good visually and with that I am obviously not referring to special effects or anything, but to costumes, makeup and sets. This is for sure the best component of the film. But there are good performances as well. I am a bit divided when it comes to Maguire here, but ignoring him completely from all awards ceremonies that year may have been a bit harsh. Still, Di Caprio, Edgerton and Mulligan are probably on another level here and they really worked their characters. Admittedly, they also had much more to work with as Maguire's character really only somewhat seemed to be a mean to show us how important, special and perhaps even great Gatsby is. You could almost have a drinking game for every time he mentions the name Gatsby in the first 30 minutes, right before DiCaprio actually visibly participates in this film and story. Initially, Gatsby is treated like a phenomenon, almost like a God and there is talk about whether he really exists. The longer the film goes the more we actually find out that he does and that he is as vulnerable and human as everybody else when a story about a lost love returns to his life and also there is some scrutiny on his possibly criminal professional life.
Is Gatsby a good or bad guy? Is he responsible for tragedy in other people's lives? Can you really blame him for what he does and who he is? It's for you to decide I guess and everybody will perceive him differently I'm sure. While I would not say this was a great watch, I still believe that there are great components to it. I already mentioned the visual side, but there's more than that. Some scenes are also acted/crafted in a way that really impressed. Some information my background here: This was the second time I watched this film I believe. I saw it right after it came to theaters a couple years ago here in Germany and I would say I liked it as much as I did back then and even if it is a film you want to see on the big screen because of its beauty, I still wouldn't say it gets much worse if you see it on a small screen and already know about the events, at least roughly. It was still pretty decent. I have not read the novel this is based on, so my review almost exclusively comes from what I saw from the theatrical perspective. I cannot say I liked or disliked this film more than the book, but looking at critics receptions, both Oscar-winning Gatsby movies did not bode that well unfortunately. Maybe some of them just love the book too much. I myself enjoyed the viewing for sure and I believe this film created 2-3 really memorable film characters that people will still talk a couple decades from now. I think you should check it out and some actors really shine in it, especially DiCaprio who is commanding the screen from the moment he first appears. A must-see for fans of period pieces.