A gangster movie that has all the perfect ingredients, acting is top class with Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig all in their respective roles but one boy Tyler Hoechlin is the eye catcher for me. The characters are empathetic and well carved out, the dialogues so well written by David Self add color to the characters. Like when Michael Jr. asks his father Michael Sr. "Did you love Peter more than me?" or the confrontation of a father-son like relationship of Paul Newman and Tom Hanks, it is all well spoken. But still we can predict the outcome of each that is taken time to deliver with pauses in between may be to add solemnity. So there comes a question, is this what it ought be, cant there be any other way. Well if there was, then it would not been for this movie.
It's a gangster movie in which only mob and its runners are involved and no civilians please. This movie spared them. Now, the direction is again top class with Sam Mendes at the helm and this being his second one (first was American Beauty), he did a great job. It's all neat and clean except for a couple of obvious glitches like a shootout where Tom gets a machine gun while mob has rifles and Paul seems to feel happy, that it is Tom who is killing knowing that he may be killed by him too.
The difference is this movie compared to others is the son-father relationship. While one wants his son to be a part and take over his business, the other does want him to take the same road. And poignantly, tbis point is emphasized at the last few lines, when Michael Jr. tells that when someone asks how was Michael Sr. Good or Bad, he replies "He was my father"
Now, if there is one thing that has to be said sound and loud then its the cinematography, its not unbelievable but so very mesmerising. the shots chosen are so great, be if the shots of characters or the topography for them which is mostly rain or snow or lush green farms that spreads all across the screen. Only at the end, when the credit came "In Memory of Conrad L Hill" I did realize that its for cinematography that the movie is acclaimed more than anything else.
Watch it for camera work and cinematography and dialogues that bring the characters alive. It's 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment