Review of The Giver (2014) by Leon B — 24 Jan 2015

Review:

I really wasn't feeling this film! I found the storyline long winded and it seemed like a big fuss over nothing. Basically it's about a colony who only see in black and white and live by rules which can never be broken. After all of there young subjects get handed out there lifetime jobs, Jonas gets picked to take on the real memories of the world before the colony ever existed, which leads to extreme changes in Jonas's way of thinking. Once he starts to feel emotions and sees some of the bad and good things that have happened in the world, he decides to escape the colony to free there mind so they can think and feel for themselves. Now you know why I thought the movie was long winded! The lead character, played by Brenton Thwaites, had this annoying lost look on his face throughout the movie and his acting seemed a bit over the top. The storyline went from one extreme to another and I thought the whole escaping the colony with a baby whilst travelling in terrible conditions, was a ridiculous idea by the director. Once everyone starts to see in colour, you don't get to see how the colony adapt to this new way of life because now they can show true emotions and feel like they never did before. Personally I didn't really take to the whole plot but I loved Jeff Bridges character, who was the guy who gave the information of the world's past to Jonas. I was surprised that I didn't hear a big buzz in Hollywood when this movie came out but after watching it, I can understand why. Average!

Round-Up:

I'm sure that half of the directors in Hollywood would love to have the cast that was in this movie but I can't help but feel that this director really did waste the chance to make something special. Meryl Streep put in her usual brilliant performance as the baddie who wants the colony to stay in order and Jeff Bridges played his part extremely well and I personally think that the movie wouldn't have been half as good without them. The director really over thought the storyline and he didn't think of it from the audiences point of view. A lot of time was wasted on Jonas adapting to the new information from Bridges and the ending just seemed rushed. The escape plan really want thought through properly and I couldn't understand how Meryl Streeps soldiers couldn't find Jonas because he was just riding around the colony on a bike. Anyway, I don't want to carry on picking at the sketchy storyline so I'll just say that it's watchable, basically because you want to find out what happens to Jonas, but it's not that great.

Budget: $25million.

Worldwide Gross: $67million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their mysterious/sci-fi/drama movies about a teenager who wants to escape his colony after learning about the world's past. 4/10.