Not So Great Gatsby

Rating: 4/10 (15 March 2014)

I honestly didn't know what to make of this adaptation, so I'll break up my thoughts likes this:
The Good: I really enjoyed the story and I found that to be one of the most interesting parts of this movie. I also thought the cast did a very good job acting. I thought Leonardo Di Caprio had a very good performance as well as Tobey Maguire. In a way it was worth seeing just for all of the performances. It also had some good visuals to look at at times, a pretty decent score, very good costume design and great production value.
The Bad: Although the story was pretty good, it just wasn't strong enough because the characters had no substance whatsoever, except for maybe Gatsby. You only knew a few things about a few characters in back story and that was it. You didn't know who the characters were as far as personality went. They were given no depth and were all just there to move the story along. I also did not like the pacing of the movie. I thought it felt very rushed most of the time. Some parts were happening so fast that I couldn't even get into the scene and I wanted to be invested. For example, when the film opens with a montage for Nick Carraray's story the camera wouldn't stop moving as it kept making fast these cuts. It was just so distracting and hard for me to focus. Also, I thought the modern day soundtrack was very unfitting. They did not fit any scenes whatsoever. I thought some of the use of the CGI backgrounds and green screen were unnecessary because it did not fit a film like this. I understand that that might be part of the director's style, but it could have been tastefully done. That type of style was properly used in some comic book movies (Sin City, Watchmen, etc.) it shouldn't be used in an adaptation of a classic novel like this. I really wanted to like this movie, but those flaws unfortunately kept me from enjoying it.
All and all I thought there was some stuff to like and stuff to dislike. I didn't like it and I didn't hate it. I'd say I'm in the middle for this one because I really didn't know what to make of it. In a way it's worth seeing because the performances were good, but other than that I wouldn't say it's that worth it. It's one of those movies you'll see once and never want to see again. 4.5/10