The Lovely Bones

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Rose McIver, Michael Imperioli
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is a fourteen year old girl who is brutally murdered by a neighbor (Stanley Tucci). While her parents (Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz) grief and work with the police (Michael Imperioli) to find her killer, Susie is stuck in the in-between- dead, but not yet in Heaven. She watches as her family struggles, and her killer walks free.

Review:

Tim: The Lovely Bones is a unique, different movie about a subject matter that is hard to watch, but is fairly powerful. It also comes from brilliant director Peter Jackson, so you know this is not your typical drama/thriller. While I was watching this movie, I was entertained and engaged. I finished it, liking it very much. However, afterwards, as I rolled the movie around in my mind, I started to have some doubts. While the movie won me over with its visuals and its emotions, I couldn't help but poke some holes in it. At the end, I decided that while this is a good movie, it wasn't as good as I first thought. I will explain.

Peter Jackson is a terrific director. I have always thought so, but he just continues to prove it. The direction here is wonderful. The story moves at a perfect pace. Jackson brilliantly balances the tangible world drama with the amazing, otherworldly aspects of Susie Salmon's journey after death. The film moved along very quickly, and never felt slow or dragging, even at a long 136 minutes. The acting is strong, and on the surface, the movie feels very, very good.

Jackson is obviously skilled at visuals, and he infused this film with some awe-inspiring special effects of fantastic worlds almost beyond human comprehension. I thought these scenes were beautiful, and worked to make the very terrible death of a young girl a little more bearable. The visuals set this movie apart from others with a similar theme.

The cast was superb. Saoirse Ronan gives a star-making performance as Susie Salmon. Without being flashy or self-aware, she gives a powerful, emotional performance. She was absolutely the right choice for this role. I suppose I enjoyed Mark Wahlberg as her father. I usually find his acting suspect, but he was actually pretty good here. I can think of other actors who would have been better in the role, but he works. Rachel Weisz was very good as the mother, but I felt like her performance was lacking something. I never felt like Weisz got comfortable in the role or the film, and as a result, was not able to make the same kind of impact that she is capable of making. Susan Sarandon was fine, although I felt like she went a little too over-the-top with her performance. She has some great moments, but as a whole, I felt like she should have toned it down a bit. I was actually pleasantly surprised by Rose McIver. I don't know if I've seen much of her before, but in a quiet way, she gave one of the best performances of the entire film. I was very, very impressed with her.

However, the best performance of the film undoubtedly goes to Stanley Tucci. Tucci plays the neighbor murderer in absolutely amazing fashion. Tucci transforms himself physically, but also gives a truly chilling, unforgettable performance. I can't imagine what goes on in the minds of these monsters, but Tucci captured a piece of that with his performance. Oftentimes, a villain can make a movie more than the protagonists, and in this case, Tucci takes the movie to another level. I was very glad he was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

On the surface, this seems like an amazing movie. I was impressed at first, but there are a few things that troubled me. While I was thoroughly pleased with the amazing visuals, I felt like they started to detract from the film. While important, it felt like Jackson spent a little too much time on this aspect of the film, which didn't leave enough room for other important aspects. I also did a small amount of research on how faithful this film stayed to the original novel. While I haven't read it and don't plan to, I learned that the movie cut out some important aspects. While that obviously has to happen, I felt like too much might have been cut (to make way for all the visuals?). I think important scenes that were cut are partially responsible for Weisz making less of an impact than she should have. I also think that Jackson dulled some of the more gruesome details to make this story more acceptable to audiences. I felt like this was a bit of a cop out. I certainly wouldn't have liked to see those horrible details, but I wonder if that took something away from this story

The Lovely Bones is a movie that it is easy to disagree about. I certainly enjoyed the movie, and I think Jackson did a good job. However, I think this movie left some things on the table that could have made this movie great. I felt like others agreed, as this movie only received 1 Academy Award nomination (Tucci's), and I think this could have garnered several. Still, this is a good movie, a unique movie, and an enjoyable (in a tough way) one.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Atonement, The Constant Gardener, The Frighteners