Review of 21 Grams (2003) by Harry W — 06 Jul 2014

21 Grams utterly wastes potential of a talented cast and decent storyline on the single error of a muddled narrative structure which Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and many critics are convinced is beneficial to the film. All I got from it was directionless unstructured confusion which failed to make an impact.

21 Grams' ultimate flaw is what makes it stand out from all other drama films of its type: it's plot structure. It puts its dynamics all over the place without ever considering how it might me a mesmerising confusion to viewers. It was to me because I was so confused that by about halfway through I had given up attempting to assemble pieces of the complicated puzzle and instead just sat back to focus more on the acting and such. But I'll always remember 21 Grams for its excessively complicated plot structure. When you change the structure of a story for a film it has to be done lightly, by which I mean if it would be executed in a non-linear narrative it would have to clearly be obvious to audiences and still comprehensible as a story. Such examples would be the complex plot structure in Pulp Fiction which is one of its highest qualities, or in Quentin Tarantino's debut effort Reservoir Dogs. In 21 Grams the plot structure is Humpty Dumpty; it fell and hit the ground shattering into many pieces for all the kings horses and all the kings men not to be able to put back together again. If you can then that would be surprising, but I was too thrown off by it to even be sure what to believe anymore. I can't comment much on the story in 21 Grams because I still don't exactly know what the hell the story was. I enjoyed the concept about how the characters became interwoven in such complex ways, but if 21 Grams had a regular plot structure I at least could have enjoyed it as a generic drama film. Now I can only see it as a model ship with missing pieces, by which I mean it looks good on the surface but I can't connect what is missing and therefore it's an incomplete film. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu really didn't think through how people who didn't have their minds invested deeply in the story may not pick up on every element, and if the story was more interesting its likely that I would have. Alas, that is not the case.

21 Grams loses credibility for its structure, direction and sub-decent plotting, but other elements are good. Half the plot is in fact decent, the alf which chronicles Cristina Peck's husband dying in a car crash and Paul Rivers entering a relationship with her after getting his heart donated. Although it isn't explored as insightfully as it could have been it's decently scripted and well acted.

Naomi Watts is the standout in 21 Grams because she shows off what Australian talent is all about. Naomi Watts' talent is all in her ability to naturally react to the drama in the story. Her reactions seem genuine and her emotional intensity is rich, and it's so powerful that it's almost shocking. Her performance skewed a deserving Academy Award nomination, and anyone who has seen 21 Grams cannot deny that she is in fact a very talented actress, particularly at dramatic work.

Sean Penn was also very good. I mean you could expect nothing less from the man who has won 2 Academy Awards for Best Actor amongst multiple nominations, and in 21 Grams he's so down to earn and his character is so basic. The effort Sean Penn puts into characterising him is great, even though he's portraying an ignorant character who continues to smoke after heart surgery.

And of course the talents of Benicio Del Toro are no lesser. Despite being featured in the less gripping storyline, Benicio Del Toro still manages to use the same naturally powerful acting talents which won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Traffic and scored him another nomination for 21 Grams. He's certainly a memorable presence and has a lot of power in his facial gestures and line delivery, so he does benefit the film.

But really director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu really takes 21 Grams for granted, using a sub decent story and a great cast as an excuse to test a poor plot structure out on a film.