The Great Gatsby

Rating: 5/10 (9 June 2020)

There is a lot that this film has going for it, and at first glance a 5 may seem a little harsh. Leonardo DiCaprio is as captivating as ever, and Baz Luhrmann has succeeded in producing an allusion to the 1920's that is undeniably aesthetically pleasing. However, this film warrants its low rating on two significant fronts.
The first of these fronts is that this film could've been an aural as well as visual masterpiece, but Baz Luhrmann's one dimensional insistence on specific aural themes throughout his filmmaking led me into overlooking any subtlety this film could've have had throughout the plot. Any emotionally significant moment in the film is accompanied by the dulcet tones of Lana Del Rey, resulting in any subtleties that any deft filmmaker would have kept as just that becoming so blindingly obvious it begins to hurt.
The second front is Tobey Maguire as a tortured soul. Maguire doesn't have to be so wooden, and indeed has proven in the past that he is an actor capable of starting in some emotionally resonant films. However, there is nothing emotionally resonant or even close to resembling tortured in this film. What could've offered us so much delivered so little.