The Age of Adaline

I've secretly (or not so secretly, depending on who you are) been really intrigued by The Age of Adaline ever since I saw a trailer for it a few months back.

Despite how well made the trailer is, it seemed to convey that the film, despite having a romance at its core, was really more about the ravages of time.

Having Blake Lively in it (who I'm about 99.9% positive is an actual angel) didn't hurt matters either.

As I've said many times before, movie going, and constant movie going, as I do, is a lot about managing expectations. I didn't expect Adaline to blow my mind with revelations about time or aging, but rather a romantic film that focused equally on the drama of its premise and would hopefully leave me with a few musings/questions of my own when I left the theater.

What I expected was pretty much precisely what I got from this film.

The Age of Adaline tells us the story of Adaline Bowman, born January 1st, 1908. At the age of 29, she is in a car accident, dies, and a lighting bolt strikes the lake she is in, acting as a defibrillator and preventing her from aging any further. The film's largest CON, by far, is its attempt to explain all of this by science, through the useless narration of some random man, and even trying to connect it to space. There aren't many failures in Adaline, but the attempt to make it anything other than magic is the most significant. It's unfortunate too because the butts are already in the seats at the theaters, most of these people have seen the trailers and know that there is a fantastical premise, but yet the film tries to let us know how it could happen, a la Interstellar, and it's just even more silly than if there had been no narration at all. Moving onward, we meet Adaline in the present day, and we learn about past times of her life through well-positioned and orchestrated flashbacks. This is a woman who has been on the run for her whole life to avoid the revelation of her secret. Many of us think it would be great to never age...never die, but when you're the only one who experiences it, it must be a truly lonely path. Lively displays both the wisdom and grace of someone who is over a century old, but also someone who is in a deep amount of pain.

She really was the perfect choice for the role.
A lot of "timeless" styles and looks on display throughout

Where'd I park that damn Millennium Falcon?

Eventually Adaline meets Ellis (Michiel Huisman from Game of Thrones) and despite her attempts to end it, she begins to fall in love with him. A lot of this is due to the encouragement from her daughter to live a life again...her daughter who is now in her 70s/80s. For a while, the film drags a bit as their romance blossoms, but they have good enough chemistry to keep it alive. A scene somewhere in the middle was incredibly sad for me (once you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about) but it plays a pivotal role in the film to display the loss that Adaline feels, no matter how small. The question then becomes, if all life would ever be is eventual loss, is it worth living? It's not just a question for Adaline, but for the audience and it's a deep one.

Harrison Ford is introduced in the final third of the film, and he really brings it full circle, both tragically and touchingly. I can't give his role away (although you could probably guess it from the spoilery trailers) but his inclusion is really what elevates the film from decent to the good, almost really good, territory. He is an everyman, for maybe once in his acting career, and his emotions are strong in the unique situation that he finds himself in. Adaline is a film that may not really say a whole lot about the themes of time, aging, love, and loss, but it at least introduces some of the questions if you watch carefully enough.

In addition to a solid human drama and romance, Adaline excels at capturing time periods, almost effortlessly, with its main star, Blake Lively. I personally think she is incredibly gorgeous, but she was a great choice to represent several different styles from different eras. She has the grace and poise to do so and the film really does belong to Lively. This is the best I've seen of her acting ability and she is definitely more than just a "Gossip Girl" in this one.

Yeah...I'd be staring too

Age of Adaline is not a film that I would need to see again, one of those one-time views, but it was enjoyable for what I was expecting it to be and even had created some truly emotional beats a couple times throughout. With or without my huge crush on Blake Lively, this film is a well constructed human drama with a slightly less well constructed romance.

But like most good films, it will have you leaving the theater thinking. If you're young, you'll realize that life is short and needs to be lived and if you're older, you may just realize that the life you've lived has been pretty great.

CONS:

• The narration was completely unnecessary and a bit distracting
• Attempting to explain the premise with science failed miserably
• Also, the attempt to connect it to space failed hard
• The romantic scenes are, at times, sappy and clichéd
• As good as it was a few months ago, the trailer is spoiler-filled

PROS:

• Has some interesting questions to pose about aging, time, and how we choose to live
• Lively does fantastic as Adaline and is a strong anchor for the film
• Harrison Ford, and his relation to the storyline, is great and truly heartbreaking at times. He really brings it full circle
• Some strong emotional beats
• Solid original score
• Well constructed flashbacks and Lively looks great in different eras and fashions
• Ummmm...Lively looks great, period
• I really liked the ending

Rath's Review Score: 7.5/10