Review of Atonement (2007) by Trystan C — 23 Jul 2012
Admittedly, I am a fan of the romantic period piece. Proudly, I am a fan of Keira Knightley. SO naturally I assumed I would be a fan of this movie. (James McAvoy is also in this, but he's only exciting when he's being hung by his nipples by an African Despot.).
So what went wrong? After breaking it down, this is how I see it: This is movie is about a little girl (freaky little girl) accusing her sister's (Knightley) lover (McAvoy) of committing a serious crime because she is jealous and in love with him. The rest of the film after that is the two lovers desperately trying to find their way back to each other when McAvoy opts to fight in WW2 over serving time in prison and the little girl, who grows up, atone(ment)ing for her crime.
That sounds good, right? The problem is that they spent so much time showing how obsessive and evil this little girl (who's freaky and looks like a boy) is they didn't spend any time on showing why Knightley and McAvoy are in love or making me believe that they are, because they are torn apart so early, and the scenes they share together are awkward and wooden at best, due in fact that they're trying to keep it a secret.
All in all, this movie could have been great had they convinced me, the 20 year-old male viewer of this film, of the leads' true romance. I guess I'll just have to stick with Jim and Pam on "The Office," a romance I believe.
This review of Atonement (2007) was written by Trystan C on 23 Jul 2012.
Atonement has generally received very positive reviews.
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