Review: The Great Gatsby

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Writer: Baz Luhrmann

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, 

Plot: A Midwestern war veteran finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor

Since I first heard that they were re-making the famous F. Scott Fitzgerald novel "The Great Gatsby" into a new film I was beyond excited. The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books and I was overly excited when I heard that Toby McGuire would be playing Nick Caraway and Leonardo DeCaprio would be playing Jay Gatsby. Right there I was sold on this film. My expectations went through the roof and I couldn't wait to see it in December! Then, out of nowhere they announce that the film would be pushed back a few months because Leo already has a film coming out in December... Umm okay? Wouldn't Leo want two movies coming out in the same month? He gets more money! Anyway, they pushed back Gatsby to a May 10th released and I began to get excited again. I kept re-watching the trailer to see what I actually thought of it and once again, my expectations went through the roof! Then, the reviews came in... With what the reviewers were saying about this film no one in their right mind would go and see it. Rotten Tomatoes even gave it a 50%. Going into the film I expected it to be the worst film ever created. I left the theater loving the film and being happily surprised with what Baz Luhrman was able to pull off.. This film was not perfect in anyway but definitely a lot better than what people are giving it credit for. Now on to specific details about the film AKA spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, stop reading!

The film as a whole I felt was very well done. The actors and actresses did a superb job with their roles and I felt like I was actually watching Jay Gatsby on the screen instead of just Leo speaking lines. One issue I had with the film was the lack of relationship they showed between Tom and Myrtle. In the book they say that Tom would go out almost every day to screw around with his mechanic's wife. In the movie this is only shown once which kind of leaves people wondering at the end of the film "why the hell would Wilson care so much to go and kill Gatsby?" Since it was only shown once, it makes us believe that Tom and Myrtle only screwed around once, instead of several times that leads to Myrtle wanting to leave Wilson and Tom wanting to leave Daisy. Confused yet? Another thing I really couldn't stand was the soundtrack.. I really liked the soundtrack actually but don't think it felt right for the film. When we see flappers and 1920's gentlemen going completely crazy at a party dancing their hearts out, we expect to hear swing, and big band music. Not Jay-Z's hip hop raping business. Another thing that I felt was really off in the film was when it would try to be comedic. The Great Gatsby is supposed to be a tragedy and the parts that were supposed to be humorous fell flat. Something that I believe will bother movie goers is how much green screen is used. There are parts when I thought the green screen worked, for example, the driving scene's and the rooftop meeting scene. I felt like it worked simply because, we don't have a 1920's New York for them to go and drive around in. Plus the green screen made it feel like it was done very simply like how they made films in the 1920's. The last really big issue I had with the film was the directing. Baz Luhrman did a good job with the actors but an absolutely terrible job with the pacing. The beginning of the film was super upbeat, crazy, fast, and seemed kind of jumbled at times while the second half just dragged on and on. I do understand that this does also happen in the book but I would have liked to see the first half of the film be dragged out a little longer and the second half more fast since this is when the big climax happens between Jay, Tom, and Wilson.

Overall The Great Gatsby left me satisfied but nothing more than that. I really enjoyed it while watching and left the theater still enjoying it and even willing to go and see it again. I'll even go out on the limb as to say it was better made than Iron Man 3. I give this film an 8/10 and recommend it to anyone who likes to see good writing and acting played out on the screen.

CONS: Terrible pacing, soundtrack doesn't fit, bad character development, felt over done at times and under done at others, if you don't know the book you wont completely appreciate the film 

PROS: GREAT Acting, good writing, decent directing, beautiful cinematography, good use of the green screen  

RATING: 8/10

Article by Matt Skajem