The Great Gatsby (2D)

Plot: Young writer Nick (Tobey McGuire) goes to see his psychologist, and tells him a story about Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his romance with his married cousin Daisy (Carey Milligan.) In flashback, Gatsby has over-the-top parties at a grand mansion on Long Island Sound near New York with many important and famous guests. Daisy's wealthy husband Tom (Joel Edgerton) is keeping a mistress in a run-down part of town.  Nick visits Daisy, goes with Tom to party with the mistress, and then hooks Daisy up with Gatsby. The love triangle plays out and this leads to the film's tragic ending. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: Spectacle! The beginning of the film is beautiful to look at, full of music, costumes, and choreography. Wonderful! I really liked the beginning.

I liked the modern rap tracks and the cool trumpet jazz. I need to buy some of these songs. I loved the trumpet player on the roof.

As the movie progresses, Leo's Gatsby is cool and mysterious. It keeps the tone going for a while, but the love triangle just isn't that interesting. The latter part of the film is just OK, too bad.

Since most of us read Gatsby in school, it is easy to pick out the literary themes. The hollowness of life, the silence of god, the longing for the past, the lost object of desire, the injustice of life, and so on. Early  in the movie, this is done well. See how in the movie poster, we have the eye's of God watching us.  Later in the movie we spend too much time staring at a green light in the fog. Not so well done.

The great parts are great, but the love triangle doesn't work, so the movie fails.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey McGuire, Carey Milligan, Joel Edgerton

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann

Rating:  2.5 stars: uneven. Still fun to watch.

 

More: Deserves awards for set design, art direction and music.

Even more: The movie is in the 3D, and there are several parts that utilize that.  3D is part of the over-the-top aspect of the spectacle.

Sadly, I saw this in 2D because my DW has bought into the false idea that 3D movies are dimmer, while choosing to ignore that theater bought a new 3D projector sized for their auditorium. Obviously the screen is brighter with the glasses off, but the project lantern is sized for the technology. Theater owners need to do some informational advertising.