TheLongshot
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2000
- Messages
- 4,118
- Real Name
- Jason
Surprised there hasn't been a review yet, so I'll post my thoughts.
As I'm married to a Jane Austen freak, this film was a no brainer. Not to mention, this is probably her favorite book of hers. Course, this film had tough competition, since she feels the BBC is the best filmed version, and nothing is going to top Colin Firth in a wet shirt for her.
Well, anyways, I saw it with her and I have to say it was a pretty good movie. I was actually impressed with Joe Wright's direction, considering there were a couple of scenes where multiple things were happening with many different characters at once, and the flow was quite nice.
The best parts went to Judi Dench and Brenda Blethyn, both of which nailed it. Kiera Knightly, Rosamund Pike, and Jena Malone aquitted themselves fine with their parts. My wife was a bit disappointed with Donald Sutherland, since his Mr. Bennet was missing a lot of the wit he had in the book. She felt that he was too resigned. Also, I thought Matthew MacFadyen did fine as Mr Darcy, but my wife thought he needed more of the aristrocratic stick up his butt.
In the end, most of her complaints were more about adapting a novel to a movie rather than to the quality of the film itself. Some aspects get glossed over where the book would explain things a bit better. But, I don't think you lose much if you aren't familiar with the source material.
Excuse me, but I need to fend her off again. She's shoving the book in my face again, pleading to me that I need to read it...
Jason
As I'm married to a Jane Austen freak, this film was a no brainer. Not to mention, this is probably her favorite book of hers. Course, this film had tough competition, since she feels the BBC is the best filmed version, and nothing is going to top Colin Firth in a wet shirt for her.
Well, anyways, I saw it with her and I have to say it was a pretty good movie. I was actually impressed with Joe Wright's direction, considering there were a couple of scenes where multiple things were happening with many different characters at once, and the flow was quite nice.
The best parts went to Judi Dench and Brenda Blethyn, both of which nailed it. Kiera Knightly, Rosamund Pike, and Jena Malone aquitted themselves fine with their parts. My wife was a bit disappointed with Donald Sutherland, since his Mr. Bennet was missing a lot of the wit he had in the book. She felt that he was too resigned. Also, I thought Matthew MacFadyen did fine as Mr Darcy, but my wife thought he needed more of the aristrocratic stick up his butt.
In the end, most of her complaints were more about adapting a novel to a movie rather than to the quality of the film itself. Some aspects get glossed over where the book would explain things a bit better. But, I don't think you lose much if you aren't familiar with the source material.
Excuse me, but I need to fend her off again. She's shoving the book in my face again, pleading to me that I need to read it...
Jason