Movie Review: The Great Gatsby

It came as quite a disappointment when Warner Brothers delayed the release of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby nearly five months. Originally slated for a Christmas 2012 release, the film was bumped last August amidst rumors of reshoot financing issues and some unfinished visual effects. The move was a red flag for a couple of reasons - one was the fact that a movie once anticipated as being a major awards contender was effectively removed from consideration altogether, another being that Gatsby's ultimate release date found the movie bookended by two of 2013's biggest blockbusters, Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Although it wasn't necessarily a reflection on the film's quality, the shift certainly wasn't a good sign.

This adaptation of The Great Gatsby should just be called "Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby," as it is unquestionably HIS adaptation. Anyone who is remotely familiar with the director's work likely knew exactly what to expect long before seeing the completed product. Luhrmann has become synonymous with extravagance, and if you were able to visualize his Gatsby after initially hearing of his involvement, you probably weren't too far off. If Moulin Rouge is your cup of tea and you aren't overly partial to F. Scott Fitzgerald's source material, you may be in for one hell of an enjoyable film. For me, not so much.

The now familiar tale of decadence and wealth in the 1920's plays straight enough to Fitzgerald's novel that fans of the book shouldn't find themselves too dismayed, although some minor changes are unnecessary and annoying. It's the style with which that tale is told that will leave many shaking their heads. Gatsby follows its narrator and involved onlooker Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he recounts the events leading up to and during his friendship with millionaire Jay Gatsby (why Carraway is telling his story from a sanitarium, a plot device not present in the novel, is never sufficiently explained). Carraway, a newcomer on Wall Street, has recently come to reside in a small cottage in the village of West Egg (effectively Long Island).

Unbeknownst to Carraway, his next door neighbor is the wealthy and enigmatic Jay Gatsby (Dicaprio), a man who desperately seeks to reignite a lost relationship with Carraway's cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). It's no coincidence that Gatsby lives across a small bay from Daisy, nor is it a coincidence that he almost anonymously throws insanely lavish parties at his mansion each week. As Carraway gets caught up in the glitz and the decadence and the wealth, he also becomes a participant in Gatsby's plan to steal Daisy from her perhaps equally wealthy husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton), a less than faithful man in his own right. Thus begins the famous web of jealousy, selfishness and betrayal.

The second half of Luhrmann's Gatsby is significantly stronger and more controlled than the first, but in all honesty it would have been difficult to even maintain the level of chaos and lack of focus that is the first half of the movie. Luhrmann spends well over an hour giving us what feels like a fancy montage, relegating important exposition almost entirely to Maguire's voiceover. Incessant cutting, especially early on and noticeably in the party sequences, makes it nearly impossible to focus on anything, and leaves the actors little room to actually act.

Once Luhrmann gets out of his own way long enough for the power of the story to take over, the quality of the film definitely improves. Some longer takes pull the best moments out of the cast, and thankfully the extravagance takes a bit of a backseat as the film reaches it's climax, even though it's always very prevalent.

Notable was Luhrmann's decision to modernize much of the film despite adhering to the story's historical setting. The 3D is well done, but I'm not sure how much it adds to the story (if it adds anything), and the near ubiquitous use of computer images makes the entire thing feel artificial. That's not to say that the visuals are bad - at times they are quite impressive. But it frequently looks as if we're watching real people interact inside of a video game. What's real and what's computer generated never coalesce. 

This seems like it was intentional, fully in keeping with the overall spectacle, and part of Luhrmann's attempt to portray what he rightfully recognizes as a story that is still relevant. But the timelessness of a story on a thematic level shouldn't necessarily be read as an artistic carte blanche to bastardize in an attempt to modernize. Luhrmann's visual approach and melodrama (perfectly encapsulated by the not-infrequent close ups of characters' faces with nothing remotely close to a realistic backdrop behind them) takes center stage throughout, and strips the story of virtually all the nuance that the novel possessed. It also makes it very difficult to become fully engaged in what is a very intimate situation.

While the overall sound design is quite good, Luhrmann's decision to include modern music might be less effective than many of the visuals. It's not that the music is always bad when isolated (Jack White's cover of U2's Love Is Blindness might be the most emotionally raw thing White has ever done, and Lana Del Rey's original track is sufficiently haunting), but it never feels as if it fits what we're seeing. As just one of many examples, a slow motion sequence of Maguire & Dicaprio driving through a visually recreated 1920's New York in a very 1920's vehicle while Jay-Z's "Izzo" blares is, quite frankly, laughable. It adds little that a stronger score couldn't have accomplished.

As was already touched on, the acting definitely suffers as a result of the direction. While there are sequences in Gatsby that carry an inherent level of awkwardness given the subject matter, there are far too many awkward glances and exchanges between characters that feel forced - that just feel like odd line reading. Maguire's Carraway is an inquisitive character, but I'm fairly certain that he maintains the same facial expression for about two-thirds of the movie. Dicaprio is fine but his accent is a bit less than consistent.

The standout is Joel Edgerton who increasingly owns the movie as Tom Buchanan becomes more and more manipulative. Mulligan's Daisy is tough to describe. I'm not sure whether she is the perfect depiction of the character, or a completely empty facade. I'm still thinking that one over.

What's really interesting about The Great Gatsby is that, despite everything that arguably makes the film a bad one, it's not NOT entertaining, if that makes sense. Despite being very long, Gatsby was never boring and actually never even felt slow. It's level of extravagance (for better or worse - some will undoubtedly enjoy it) needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. It's just a shame that it has to be enjoyed in spite of its train-wreck qualities.

5/11