The Great Gatsby

Adaptations of classic novels are always a tricky thing to pull off. So many people interpret it in so many different ways and you will NEVER please everyone. Even with movies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, I still know people who detest them and think the books are far better. My biggest lesson that I have learned with book-to-movie adaptations is that everyone just needs to take a chill pill. Not everything that is contained within a book translates well onto the screen and we cant have every adaptation be a 3-4 hour event. 

But there is something about The Great Gatsby that shocked me. I just re-read the book a couple months ago in order to re-familiarize myself with it. I read it in high school and hated it because of all the stupid extra work we had to do, but upon re-reading it out of my own personal interest, I fell in love with it for the first time. I envisioned these grandiose, expensive characters that are mostly all terrible people. To me it read as a love story through and through. I certainly gathered the opinions of humanity; why people are "good" or "bad". But being the romantic (and single one at that ladies!) that I am, The Great Gatsby was a tragic tale of true love. 

So I'm sure you're wondering, "So what exactly surprised you?". I was surprised by just how exactly Baz Luhrmann's version of The Great Gatsby echoed my own vision of it. The setting, the characters, the speech...it was all remarkably similar to what I had in my head as I read the book. Just as I fell in love with the book, so I did with The Great Gatsby film. 

The parties are extravagant...I guess. I think I throw
better ones.

Since the film is based on a very old novel, I'm not going to go into the details of the story. As far as accuracy for an adaptation goes, I found it to be almost scene for scene. There were no glaring omissions or additions that I could tell (feel free to tell me if I'm wrong in the comments section below). I will say that Luhrmann doesn't give his viewers much credit as far as metaphors are concerned. The book version of Gatsby is littered with a bunch of very significant metaphors, all of which are included here, but Luhrmann consistently beats us over the head with them (the green dock light in particular). As someone who has just read the book and who can spot a metaphor pretty decently in a movie, it kind of ground on me. But it was hardly a problem when the rest of the movie is so damn good. 

We get it Baz! It's a metaphor! Even Gatsby is trying to cover his eyes from it!

Technically speaking, The Great Gatsby is a marvel, especially in 3D. It has an obnoxious plethora of colors, all of which are over saturated and it is assaulting to watch (and I mean that in a good, non-Michael-Bay kind of way). I found the cinematography to be well done too and Luhrmann's style certainly helps to compliment the movie. There is some really awkward editing of scenes and transitions, but I'm not sure many people will notice that unless someone were to point it out. 

Absolutely ridiculous chemistry. I was
mesmerized.

There has been a lot of talk about the soundtrack and original score since Jay-Z is the one who set it up. This may have been one of my favorite parts of the movie. It feels so much like it is in the 1920's, but then when we get modern music layered on top of it. It's jarring...yet awesome. That being said, there are scenes where the modern music is being played over conversations and even the original score sometimes and the result was kind of a fuddled audio mess. Additionally, there was too much Jay-Z/Kanye West in the soundtrack. I know the guy did the work, but the first 15 minutes of the movie I half expected to see Jay or Kanye make a cameo since their music was playing so much. The crowning jewel of the bunch is Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" which acts as the love theme for the movie. It fits so perfectly that I am at a loss for another example of a song fitting a movie so well...maybe "Real Human Being" in Drive? 

Honestly though, I would throw all of that away. Luhrmann's style, the great technical aspects, the near-perfect soundtrack...none of them compare to the characters. The characters that are portrayed so well by their actors that I often began to believe they were who they were acting to be. The Great Gatsby features a cast that is exquisitely picked and everyone fits well into their spots. Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton, and even Tobey Maguire (who I'm usually not a big fan of) all deliver performances and energy to their characters that again, are almost exactly how I pictured them in my mind. But they are just good. Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan are OUTSTANDING. For starters, there is something about Carey Mulligan that is just so inexplicably intoxicating to me that I swear she could talk me into jumping off a bridge. She has an allure and a presence that strikes me in every movie I see her in, and The Great Gatsby is no different. Her portrayal of Daisy is mesmerizing and even gets more so when she is sharing the screen with DiCaprio. Their chemistry was palpable...I could almost feel it in the air. If I can almost feel the chemistry in the air, I get lost in the love story and I'm clocked out until the movie ends and I know how they ended up.

Leonardo DiCaprio. Leo. Nardo. Di. Caprio. He's the man. Plain and simple. 

Leonardo DiCaprio is going to easily be in the Top 5 greatest actors who have ever lived by the time his career ends, if he isn't there already (in my opinion, he is). How the Academy consistently ignores him is beyond me and is just another example of how far that organization has fallen out of touch. But that is a rant for another time. I'll be honest. Gatsby is not a particularly hard role. It's no Joker, or Lincoln, etc. I'm sure it was a walk in the park for Leo. But even for his walks in the park, I still am in disbelief by just how much he becomes his characters. As soon as you see him for the first time in the movie you think, "Yeah...that IS Gatsby." There isnt a doubt in your mind. Ladies and gentleman, when all an actor has to do is turn around, smile, and toast in your direction to get you to believe who they are...well, that's talent. And Leo has talent in spades. Buckets and buckets of spades. 

"I do believe that we are going to be getting a good
Rath's Review Score, old sport!"

I know what score I am giving The Great Gatsby and I knew it the second I walked out of the theater. But I also know that I will probably get a lot of flak for it. And to that I encourage you to go back up to the top and read the first paragraph. The success of adaptations is usually on the shoulders of the individual's interpretation of the story and how accurate the director got it with regards to that person. There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but I believe that generally that is the case. Having just read The Great Gatsby I can confidently say that I have never had an adaptation get so close to my vision and focus on the aspects that I took away from the book like this movie did. I think some people are going to hate this adaptation and call it all style over substance. To that I say rubbish. It has an immense amount of both. But then again, that's differences in opinion which is part of the magic of cinema. 
As for me? The Great Gatsby was a mesmerizing, fun, and near-perfect adventure into the Fitzgerald classic. Easily one of my favorites of the year so far, old sport!

Pros:

• Luhrmann's style is kinetic and even overdone in some areas. I know some will hate it, but I loved it and it made the movie that much more enticing to watch. It has a 2 hour and 20 minute run time and I don't think I checked my watch once. I was utterly lost in the film
• The subject matter of the film is clearly strong. It's a fantastic love story (among other things) and the movie portrays a faithful adaptation. For me, it was almost EXACTLY how I envisioned it, which is why I loved it so much
• An amazing soundtrack despite being a little too Jay-Z/Kanye heavy. Lana Del Rey's song fits absolutely perfect
• Technically strong for the most part (see related Con)
• An amazing cast where everyone sells their role. Tobey Maguire made me not think of him as a whiny brat for once so congrats to him for that
• Carey Mulligan. I'm not sure if it's just me but I am just drawn into her screen presence like no other actress out there right now. She is incredible
• Leonardo DiCaprio IS Gatsby. He is probably one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, actors today and he killed it as Gatsby. Most likely the best performance of the year so far

Cons:

• There are some technical aspects that hold the film back from being perfect. Particularly editing of both scene transitions and soundtrack overlays
• Sometimes Luhrmann's style is too much
• If this isn't the way you imagined the book then I'm not sure you will enjoy it as much as I did. But then again, that's the nature of adaptations
• We get it, Baz. There are metaphors. Seriously. We get it

Rath's Review Score: 9.5/10