The Giver

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgard, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush, Cameron Monaghan, Taylor Swift, Emma Tremblay
Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: In a society with strict rules that govern all aspects of their lives, a young man (Brenton Thwaites) is chosen for a special position as keeper of the memories of the world before this one.

Review:

Tim: Although The Giver isn't great, I have to admit it was better than I expected. There was certainly something original about the story when it came out a few decades ago, but the post-apocalyptic, teen angst in a repressive society thing has been done numerous times before. That myriad of similar movies threatened to cause The Giver to be lost in the shuffle. I believe that did happen. The box office was good, but not great. The movie itself follows a similar path- good, certainly not great.

I may have read the book in school, but I have no memory of it (ironic), so I went into this fresh-eyed. The story is certainly interesting, which is a plus, but the film didn't feel especially new or exciting. It just felt like a variation of the same thing we've seen numerous times in recent years. While feeling a bit redundant, I give the movie credit for holding my attention much more than I expected it would. Director Phillip Noyce delivers a solidly crafted film.

The cast is certainly a strength. I've seen Brenton Thwaites in a few films and have mostly felt lukewarm about him. This is probably the best performance of his I've seen. He was solid as the main protagonist. There wasn't a whole lot that made me excited about him, but I don't have many complaints. The fact that the film got both Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep were huge wins. Bridges is well cast as The Giver, although he's doing that weird mumbling thing that occasionally felt a little odd. Still, his performance was strong. Meryl Streep gave a good performance as well, although I'm not sure what the challenge was for her. It almost felt like she was doing it as a favor. She doesn't have a great deal to do, and acting very stoic is something any actress could have done. She's enjoyable here, but it just felt like a role she could do in her sleep. Alexander Skasgard felt a little out of place, but he's an odd looking guy, so that may have been some of it. I liked seeing Katie Holmes here, but it's a bit of a thankless role and she didn't really add much to it. Odeya Rush was decent. She doesn't do anything special, but I'm interested to see what she does next.

The film took the path of starting in black and white and slowly introducing color. I thought it was fine- maybe just a little gimmicky, but it did convey the change our protagonist underwent. I don't think Phillip Noyce leveraged this as much as he could have, but it didn't detract from the film (it didn't add a whole lot, either).

The story was good. I really enjoyed the first hour or so, but the film's climax is where it started to lose me. Noyce didn't do a great job with the action sequences and I'm still a bit confused about how him reaching the border would restore memories. That part made no sense to me and it wasn't explained well in the film (maybe because it's a bit nonsensical). Still, for the most part, this movie held my attention.

While I didn't love The Giver, it managed to entertain me more than I expected. Unfortunately, it came out a time when it faced many similar films and I don't believe this movie did enough to differentiate itself from all the similar movies. That means this film gets lost in the shuffle and I suspect it will be hard for me to remember it even a year or two from now.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Maleficent