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
Ryan Gosling is currently the Hollywood go-to guy for a great performance. With recent stints in Ides Of March and Crazy, Stupid Love he shows versatility in a wide range of roles and yet again he's at it in thriller Drive.
With Drive what you see is what you get. Gosling plays a driver (with no name), a man who at night runs the driving errands for criminals who have hired him and by day he is a stuntman for movies. This is about as much as we get to know about our main character and this suits the film perfectly.
From a beautiful opening playing similarly to Taxi Driver we are shown the area in which our driver is situated and then we are witness to his skills behind the wheel, with a police chase showcasing that he is a man who clearly needs no back story, with pulsating driving skills to put us in awe rather than question his background.
Our driver then finds himself embroiled further into trouble than he could ever have imagined following a botched robbery. The girl next door (Carey Mulligan) has taken a shine to our driver but when her husband is released from prison he enlists Gosling's help for 'one last job' and you guessed it, that goes haywire and he ends up dead. This in turn leaves our driver in a world of trouble and soon the sparks fly. Can he protect himself and the woman he has fallen for or will all be lost?
Enthralling, pulsating, immense, beautiful; these are all words which can be used to describe Drive. It's rare that for a film to come along with a character with such little introduction and succeed in doing so but this film certainly achieves that. Gosling, despite uttering few words throughout the whole duration simply commands proceedings and is aided along the way with some memorable performances from the likes of Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks.
Shot with such exquisiteness we are made fully aware of the stunning surroundings we find ourselves immersed into and couple this with the year's best soundtrack and Drive is all you have ever wanted from a film. If there's one film to see all year this is it, stunning stuff.
Filme rating: 5 F's out of 5
