Much better than expected

Rating: 8/10 (14 May 2013)

"I'm Gatsby"
I went into this film with significantly lowered expectations, based on critic reviews and early response and I must say: Gatsby surprised me. Luhrman's previous films have been hit or miss with me - I liked Moulin Rouge and hated Romeo + Juliet – but this is certainly his best yet. Despite some flaws, I enjoyed my time watching The Great Gatsby. Its impressive, kinetic visuals; great acting; and excellent story manage to propel it past silly voice-over and some empty characters.
Baz Luhrman's style is truly unique, and I can say I've never seen a film that's quite like The Great Gatsby. The lavish parties are incredibly energetic and fun to watch, despite some wonky editing. The sets and costumes are equally stylish and manage to add some personality to the classic tale from F. Scott Fitzgerald. Said story is excellent in this film translation and it's quite faithful to the book. It is a story of hope, tragedy, emptiness, and decadence and these themes make the transfer to film well. Unfortunately, Luhrman uses voice-over from Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) to explain these themes instead of giving the viewer the pleasure of dissecting them.
That being said, Maguire and the rest of the cast do very good in their roles. DiCaprio and Joel Edgerton are the standouts, with Elizabeth Debicki also delivering an impressive sophomore performance. Maguire is good, but he doesn't add anything special to his character, and Carey Mulligan was the weakest of the cast. She has moments of greatness, but those moments are eclipsed by her spurts of sub-par line delivery.
I'm a lover of Fitzgerald's book, and re-reading it this past week may have given me a bit of bias going into this film. Reading the book just before the film helped me feel connected to the characters. While there are obvious development issues, it was easy for me to overlook them, given the fact I had read the story of these characters only days earlier. I enjoyed watching The Great Gatsby, probably more than most people. Luhrman's was a good choice to bring this ageless tale to the screen, and I'm sure if it was anyone else it would not have been as good. The acting, the style, and the story combine to form a very good film, which could have been better, if it was given a little more thought.