Review of The Tree of Life (2011) by Steve W — 22 Sep 2014

This film was made by a tedious perfectionist, and this drive to perfection is the part that killed it. Too much emphasis on construction to the point that it got executed with an obscene amount of overthink. It is also one of those movies, that, due to the high concept and abstract nature, is likely to garner in positive reviews from critics because it's outside the norm and I'll say that it was shot very well.

That being said, this movie bored me to absolute death. There were many times throughout where I could connect with the characters, get dragged in emotionally, etc., but soon thereafter was presented with such oddities that I lost every bit of it. Like giving me a million bucks and saying two seconds later "I'll take that back".

Abstract I don't mind, but this one was just pieced together in a manner that just didn't click. 15 minutes in we get a montage leading from the largest points in the universe down to the smallest, then for some odd reason I find myself watching dinosaurs run around the planet (all, I assume, representing the vastness of space and time). That lasted about a half hour.....yeah.....got the point.

A half hour before the movie ends, I think to myself: "this is going to be one of those movies that just ends leaving you to say 'yeeeaaaahhhh'" and it absolutely was. Bummer.

What can I say, I gave it a shot. Sorry to the critics that say I don't appreciate it as much as I should, but in the end, who the hell cares (and without love, I am nothing :) nice subliminals there).