Review: THE GREAT GATSBY

Baz Luhrmann, director of 'Romeo & Juliet', 'Moulin Rouge' and others, brings us his film version of one of America's most outstanding literature works- "THE GREAT GATSBY".

For those of you who read Scott Fitzgerald's novel, you'll see a movie with pretty much the same narrative- different and somewhat strange.

To those of you that haven't, the film does have that Luhrmann-style editing, but not at grand scale in order to be true to the already mentioned original material.

The story tells us about Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire), a man who moves to New York City in search for new horizons. His homes is located next door to a multi-millionaire by the name of Jay Gatsby (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a man that is as famous for his high-society all-out weekend parties as he is for being mysterious; meaning, no one has ever met him.

Not long after Nick moves in, Gatsby enters his life to ask him to introduce him to Daisy (played by Carey Mulligan), the woman who lives right across from his mansion.

The high class lifestyle, as well as Gatsby's, get Nick involved in a world that is more than it appears to be and this will lead him to be a part of the story from a watcher standpoint rather than an actual player.

As you can see, for those of us unfamiliar with the novel, it is a complicated story, but as interesting as it can be.

Technical aspects:

The art direction, makeup/hair and costume designs are exquisite. You know the time period the story is taking place at all times.

The cinematography had some issues that made it look like a failure. It may be attributed to bad post-production special effects because some sequences you know you are not looking at a set or the outdoors, but to a green screen-box worked to look like the 1930's.

The much talked about music: The soundtrack is very good and we are sure it will sale like pancakes, but that doesn't necessarily mean it’s a good thing for the movie itself. We know it’s a Luhrmann trademark to include alternative and different music (Moulin Rouge is a great example of perfect audio and visual work), but in this film the music included does not go well with neither the visuals nor the story, it is a distraction rather. 30's and R&B music just didn't work for us.

The editing was terrible. One great quality about every Luhrmann film is a fresh, active and dynamic editing post-production work that is entertaining and increases the emotions with every passing sequence. This film develops too slowly; the emotional moments the story deserved were missing.

Tobey Maguire's performance will be underappreciated, but in our opinion he did what he was supposed to in good manner. Leonardo DiCaprio failed as the iconic Gatsby; the character is famous for being charismatic and in this version of the story he simply isn't. Carey Mulligan did a great job playing Daisy; she fills her up with life and emotions, and she puts a rightful image to the girl in the original material.

As you can see, the production work is pretty good. Unfortunately the narrative and the editing make this a long film without ups-and-downs and emotionless. The original story deserved to be told with much more life and enthusiasm. In other words- it disappoints.

5.5/10 Discount Theater or Rental.