The Great Gatsby
Have you ever been to a party that, you know, didn’t feel right? There’s something you can’t quite put your finger on. The food is incredible, the booze is flowing, you look great and the music is thumping. Despite a few unsavoury characters, this party has all the making of a great one. But somewhere along the night, the mood feels flat, you are bored and the host has gone so crazy you wish you’d just gone home, pulled on your jim-jams and watched Eastenders all night. Well, that’s how watching The Great Gatsby felt.
Set in the Roaring Twenties, The Great Gatsby is told from the point of view of Nick Carraway. Nick has moved to Long Island after university. Renting a small cottage opposite from his cousin Daisy’s home, he finds that his neighbour is an elusive man called Gatsby who throws lavish parties for the whole of New York. But the connection to Gatsby goes much deeper as Nick finds out that Daisy and Gatsby have a past and Gatsby is more than keen to relive that passion. The only problem is Daisy’s new married life. Directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton, The Great Gatsby is certainly, colourful.
The Great Gatsby has all the makings of being an excellent film. For starters, Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular character is great. He puts in one of his best performances as the hopeful millionaire Gatsby who is madly in love with Daisy. His fine acting is perhaps one of the few reasons we pull along with the story. And his counterpart, Joel Edgerton, as Tom Buccanan (Daisy’s Husband,) is a brilliant villain who is dark yet emotional too. These two men really bring intrigue to an otherwise plodding plot.
The visuals are stunning too. There is some breathtaking scenery, beautiful effects and the party scenes are grandiose affairs that make you instantly jealous of the characters in the movie. Luhrmann really pulled out all the stops to make this movie look incredible with the sets and CGI (made specific for 3D, you unfortunately miss a lot of that watching in just two dimensions.) You are really taken aback by this opulent affair as the rich shower the audience with their world. And the soundtrack, orchestrated by Jay Z is a modern twist on some catchy jazz.
But unfortunately that is where the greatness ends. The Great Gatsby just never clicks wholly into place and feels slightly jarred on screen. At some points we are awash with dizziness and are completely lost within what should be quite a simple story. The dots are there but are never really connected. Some of this displeasure can be placed on Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan as Nick and Daisy, both seem to have one facial expression and equally annoying accents. Yet the main fault rests solely on Luhrmann who fails to direct his cast well. Instead of focusing his attention on transferring his characters from book to film, he uses his skill and money on trying to emulate his own works such as Moulin Rouge! (the type writing scene feeling particularly clichéd and painful.) Luhrmann has always been a show stopper but it feels that he is increasingly trying to top himself. But he pulls too left here and the whole show becomes over the top. The Great Gatsby is filmed as though a child had been given sugar, spun around then given a camera.
The phrase “less is more” has never been so accurate as to describe what should have happened in The Great Gatsby. And yes, there is a sense that all the wealth and colour mirror our shallow characters. But a movie with so many detestable people, especially our main protagonists, needs much work for an audience to be pulled in. The original story had heart; it raced along country roads with hope and adventure. But this movie adaptation just races with no real direction; just a shiny car and too much steam.
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