Cinema Review - The Great Gatsby 3D

Based on the literary classic by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby sees bond salesman Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he makes his way through an unbelievable story through the roaring twenties where he befriends his mysterious neighbour, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). As their friendship blooms, Nick uncovers that Gatsby is in love with his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and when the pair are finally reunited, lives change forever.

On paper, Gatsby's cast looks as splendid as a Baz Luhrmann-led party but these thoughts are soon quelled with what can only be described as sub-par performances from some of the best in the business. Whilst DiCaprio occasionally offers glimmers of his Hollywood heydays gone by, Carey Mulligan appears as a mere damsel with little depth and Tobey Maguire remains, as ever, a flea in the ear. As is the constant ramblings of DiCaprio's use of the term 'old sport'; I'm sure this is said around 100 times throughout!

At times, the film does indeed captivate, as it should, with the reuniting of Gatsby and Daisy, as one of the pinnacle moments of the source material, executes a feeling within the audience that really warms the heart only to turn it almost into a parody, playing for laughs when completely unnecessary. It's moments like these where Luhrmann doesn't quite seem to garner the full force of his source material and in turn this results in few truly groundbreaking and memorable instances. 

Where Gatsby does however, flourish, is in its set pieces, costume design and, of course, those party scenes. Vibrant, flamboyant and backed by some intriguing soundtracking, the Australian sure knows how to create some truly stunning visually quests and this is by far one of his best. It's just a shame he hasn't quite got the hang of 3D...

The Great Gatsby is an effort from Baz Luhrmann to bring up-to-date one of the greatest pieces of literature there is and frankly it all seems a bit of a mess. With collectively average performances and few scenes that really stick out in the mind, it lacks that killer punch and is dogged by an insistence in making everything look pretty. If the whole film was a party then Luhrmann would be gaining all the plaudits under the sun but this is one love story he hasn't quite nailed down unlike his previous outings. Should've dropped 'The Great' and simply called it Gatsby, Baz...

Film Rating - 2.5 F's out of 5