A Respectfully done Biopic

Rating: 6/10 (3 February 2015)

In the Theory of Everything Eddie Redmayne plays the brilliant scientist Stephen Hawking. The story follows Hawking from his early days at Cambridge, where he meets Jane (Felicity Jones). From there the movie chronicles their life together as well has his crippling battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. The movie gives and intimate inside look at one of the world's most brilliant minds on space and time. The key ingredient to The Theory of Everything is Eddie Redmayne. His portrayal of Hawking is unforgettable; a respectfully done work of brilliance. I don't know what is harder, playing a living legend or playing a dead one. With the deceased you have this air of an omnipotent beings that have a life beyond the grave, any flaw in performance will be deeply criticized by fans as blasphemy. Whereas with the living you risk of insulting someone to their face. Out of the 5 actors nominated for best actor this year 4 of them are playing real people. Redmayne is the only one who had to answer to living. From what I read Hawking is happy with Redmayne's performance. Felicity Jones is up against an actress playing a real character, Reese Weatherspoon's Cheryl Strayed from Wild (2014) in the best actress category. Both well received by their real life counterparts, yet neither are the front runner to win the Oscar. I was not blown away by this movie. Hawking's is a very inspiriting story of overcoming adversity, I just didn't walk away inspired. It was more about the love story between Hawking and his wife, who are now in fact separated. When this movie and Imitation Game (2014) were nominated for Best Picture, I mentally prepped myself to be bored by both of these, due to my own ignorance. Imitation game was amazing, painfully moving and super inspirational, this one left a lot to be desired. The director James Marsa is known more for documentaries. This I think is obvious in watching the movie. He does a lot with visual camera tricks and dream like transitions to add more without manipulating the story in anyway. There are a lot of odd, and somewhat confusing elements to Hawking's life that are treated very delicately. I will not spoil it so as not to ruin anything. I think a director with more fictional film experience would have been better. There is a reason why his name is left off the Best Directing category. If you are a fan of Dr. Hawking's work then this film is worth a look. It's always interesting to get the back story on the greats. It does have a few good chuckles and some very touching moments. But if pure entertainment is your quest, pick something else. Unlike Dr. Hawking's book, even at 123 minutes, this film does not feel like a BRIEF history of time.
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