I really don't know what to say.I was looking forward to seeing this movie more than any other this awards season. I'm a sucker for a period epic. And James McEvoy is one of my all-time favorite actors. I think he's woefully underrated and brilliantly talented. I actually like Keira Knightley, as well. Combine those things with period costumes, fabulous art direction, the great buzz it's gotten and the overall experience of seeing it on the big screen and you'd think I'd be swooning.
In fact, Atonement is simply...ok.
It's beautifully shot.
The acting is great.
The score is wonderful...the use of the typewriter as a musical instrument is very cool.
I didn't really dislike any specific aspect of the film. All the pieces were perfect (or close to it). I just felt an overwhelming sense of "bleh" during and since my viewing of it.
I'll not give away any important plot points, but I'm gonna give a general overview. The first third of the film is very intimate. It takes place in one location and has a set number of characters. Then, through plot circumstances, McEvoy and Knightley (our romatic leads) are separated. The film then becomes a broad-sweeping story ignoring all but two (McEvoy & Knightley, again) of the characters we previously met. This middle third of the movie is what bugged me most, I think. The viewer has to "sit through" this section because the director wants you to somehow empathize with our leads - he wants you to feel their separation and longing. But I didn't. I was simply aggravated.
Suddenly, the final third brings back some of the characters from the first third...some of whom are played by different actors as they have aged from children to adults in that time. And the end of the film jumps to present-day and then a "fantasy sequence" of sorts. All the while, we're also getting certain scenes shown to us repeatedly from different characters' points of view, so you often wondered where you were, chronologically.
Don't get me wrong - the screenplay is actually pretty clever. I just never felt emotionally vested in any character in this film. Why? Here's an example: Yes, the several-minute-long-tracking-shot on the beach is impressive. But, it too took me out of the emotional track of the film...I kept thinking about how cool the shot was. I was constantly asking questions about the filmmaking as opposed to the film. And that's a problem.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it. It's just "ok."
