Review of Enduring Love (2004) by Alison O — 19 Sep 2005

Best in Show: Daniel Craig.

One for the future: Samantha Morton.

Stand-out scene: Kitchen knife.

Brainer or no-brainer: Brainer.

Stands up to one viewing or repeated?: Repeated.

DVD commentary any good?: From direction Roger Michell - worth listening to.

DVD.

A bit of a strange fish this one. I enjoyed it but it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting. I suppose my high hopes were down to Michell's The Mother being such a resonant movie experience and with Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans and Samantha Morton on board this time the stars were aligned favourably for an end product of equivalent quality. Perhaps it's because this was adapted from an Ian McEwan novel, a writer i'm unfamiliar with, but the story that started brightly but then swiftly plummeted to the ground (an unfortunate choice of phrase in this instance) failed to fully engage me. Craig plays Joe, a university psychology lecturer who is on a picnic in the countryside one day with his girlfriend (Morton) when he spots a boy and his grandson imperiled by an out of control hot air balloon. He and several other passers-by (including Jed - Rhys Ifans) gallantly attempt to get the stricken craft back on terra firma but when the whole things ends in tragedy Joe is tormented by the fact that the actions he took may or may not have contributed to the loss of life. When this emotional turmoil is further compounded by Jed's stalker-like behaviour, Joe begins to lose his grip and his life spirals out of control. The new James Bond, Daniel Craig brings much to the role of Joe and sharing scenes with one of the best actresses alive today, Samantha Morton, certainly inspires him to up his game. Rhys Ifans is perfectly cast as the shady Jed but the unravelling of his story was where the plot doesn't quite ring true in my book. What I liked about The Mother was its mundane realism; mundane surrealism doesn't quite cut the mustard here despite the cast's good work. That said, I watched this twice (the second time with the director's commentary) and it's certainly much better than the plotless piffle that passes for much of the moviemaking these days. Close, but no cigar.