I thought that The Great Gatsby was an excellent
film. The movie followed the book's plot closely and did a great job making the
characters come to life. The acting was great with Leonardo Dicaprio playing
the leading role of Jay Gatsby. This film was about a rich businessman who
bought a house near an ex-girlfriend who he still has feelings for, and he
throws parties every weekend in hopes that she will one day come.
This film used many far away shots to portray the
landscape of the area in each scene. For example, in the scenes of Gatsby’s
parties, it would use far away shots to show the large numbers of people and to
show the size of his house. This type of shot was also used to show the
fireworks that were going off during parties. Close up shots were also used
during many scenes where there would be extensive dialogue with the characters.
Something I find interesting about the characters
that Dicaprio chooses to play is that something tragic always happens to them.
In Titanic Jack Dawson froze to death, in Django:Unchained Calvin Candle is
shot to death, and in The Great Gatsby Jay Gatsby is murdered. In many of his
films when his character falls in love, bad things happen to him. In The Great
Gatsby Jay dies, in Titanic he dies, in Wolf of Wall Street he gets divorced
then goes to jail. Dicaprio has played the same character in so many of his
films, that he has mastered this role and proved his mastery again in The Great
Gatsby.
This film had many party scenes excellently directed for the era of the
1920's. The type of clothing, dancing, music, and even slang (old sport) is
spot on. The film followed the book perfectly and had little differences with it,
which made the movie literally a visual of the book. The editing was excellent
and very smooth. I enjoyed this movie a lot; the only thing I did not like was
that it was 2 hours and 22 minutes long. However, I still rate this movie a 4/5
stars.
I totally agree with how you stated that the movie followed very closely with the book and that Leo does an excellent job with acting this part. I never thought about the way the camera did far away shots to show a large number of people and the fireworks. And I also, never realized the relationship that Leo has played in this movie, Django and The Wolf on Wall Street. With him loving someone and then him dying or going to jail. I also, think that to emphasize the book the movie had to be that long but maybe some parts could've been shorter.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you also. I think that the movie does a good job being similar to the book. I also think that Leonardo Dicaprio did a fantastic job. I also thought that Toby Maguire did a good job.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about DiCaprio's characters that he plays. While I agree that the film is better than a lot of critics say, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's just like the book. I think there are many significant differences that make the book so much more complex and effective. But, this was a decent adaptation, in my eyes. Maybe focus a little more on specifics moving forward, but overall, good work.
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