Lush Delicious Thumping

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2013)

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) recalls his time with Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). It's 1922 on Long Island. Nick rents a small house next to Jay's mansion. He is constantly throwing big parties. Nick is visited by his cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) and her husband Tom (Joel Edgerton).
Baz Luhrmann definitely injects his vision of the roaring 20s. The music is perfect. The movie has the grandiose vision that it so desperately needs. Leonardo DiCaprio is perfect for this role. In many ways, he brings his real life and breathes it into this character. His real life models-filled-partying ways make it so realistic. Carey Mulligan brings a more sweet sensibility. However Tobey Maguire and his non-stop literary narration isn't always needed. Unlike the visuals, more is not always the best. What is truly needed is a solid lens for the audience to view the proceedings. Tobey is more a shaky cam. The last 1/3 is too slow. It needs a more tension filled resolution. All in all, it's beautiful and Leo's perfect.