Review of The Great Gatsby (2013) by David F — 23 Apr 2016

Just as applies with most books and their production of movies, the 2013 film of The Great Gatsby did not live up to the book. Aspects of the movie such as the characters, setting, and mood did not live up to the greatness that it should have.

Leonardo DiCaprio was brilliant in his role as Gatsby. He truly became Gatsby and dug deep into the character which was seen through his fantastic performance. However, most of the other castings did not perform as well as DiCaprio. The setting of the film was accurate with Gatsby's huge parties displayed rightly along with the grandeur of the houses. The mood of the film was spot on. I don't think that Fitzgerald was picturing current day artists such as Jay Z and Lana Del Ray playing their music for the movie, which was set nearly 90 years earlier. I feel that the music should have been genuine music from the 1920s or modern singers performing real songs from that day.

Overall, there were both good and bad aspects to the movie production of The Great Gatsby, but the bad outweighed the good. One good scene in particular was when Gatsby forced Daisy to tell Tom she never loved him. The tension could be felt on screen and while watching it. The choice of DiCaprio as Gatsby also was great along with the setting of the film. Some of the issues I had with the movie were the choice of music and of some actors in their roles. Overall, the movie was good but it did not live up to the high standards which were set by the book.