Daniel Day-Lewis is great. The rest of the movie...

Rating: 4/10 (25 January 2008)

Daniel Day-Lewis, as always, does a fantastic job with his character. As for the rest of the movie, it was pretty hard to sit through. Let me comment on this as someone who likes to go to a movie to be entertained and not as someone who goes to movie so that I can comment on the editing or lighting styles. From an entertainment standpoint, this is borderline at best. The story moves very slowly, and transitions randomly and suddenly in 9 and 16 year jumps. It takes 10 minutes before any dialogue is spoken. Huh? As I stated, I'm not one to notice things like filming techniques or lighting. The background music in this movie, however, is atrocious. I knew there was a problem by the simple fact that I noticed it. The music's style throughout the movie is confusing and inappropriate. It is obvious that the director and the composer LOVE to use the violin to induce tension. The problem was, this happened during scenes where there was no tension or suspense.
I'm sure the "art" in this movie is superb, and my inartistic eye can't catch it. However, if you want to sit down and enjoy yourself, try something else.