Much ado about very little

Rating: 2/10 (27 March 2009)

I'm glad to see that after the initial hype surrounding this movie died down, the reviews have become (somewhat) more reasonable. Initially I had such great hopes when entering the theater. None of them were met. I can't fathom why it sparked such raving reviews in its time, and why people allowed themselves to be led by them. I gather that the average movie-viewer is so starved for actual content that they willingly bought into the hype and mistook this to be a quality production of SUBSTANCE, no questions asked. Or maybe they just like to be led. Because frankly, when held up to the light, this movie just falls apart. There are plot holes as big as the Grand Canyon and the character development isn't handled well. I found it hard to dig out any empathy for these characters at all. And I did try. As for the story itself; it endeavours, I assume, to make a profound statement about the essence of greed and what it does to humanity. Suffice it to say; this topic has been handled much better in other movies
It isn't all bad. The production values aren't at fault. The movie certainly looks pretty. The cinematography is awesome. Daniel Day-Lewis can lift even the most mediocre of scripts into something worthwhile. The use of Arvo Pärt's "Fratres" accompanies one of the movie's few memorable scenes. Greenwood's soundtrack makes me want to kill kittens.
While the movie has its positive aspects, they don't outweigh the bad ones. The movie tries too hard to be profound, and subsequently it ends up being pretentious and melodramatic. It only scratches the surface of the themes it thinks it addresses; and it doesn't hold much substance at all. It's a shallow, superficial affair that attempts to bite off more than it can chew.
With the right team at the helm, this could have been a great movie. It isn't. Comparing the last scene to "A Clockwork Orange" (which I've seen some reviewers do) is plain sacrilege. It doesn't have anywhere near the same impact to that of Stanley Kubrick's brilliant satire. I partly chalk this up to Paul Dano's unconvincing performance as the cartoonish preacher Eli.
In summing, I'm not trying to discourage anybody from watching the movie. Watch it - but do so with an open mind, and try to make up your own conclusions. In essence, don't believe the hype.