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Review: The Lovely Bones
» Review
Review: The Lovely Bones
Thanks for checking out our The Lovely Bones review.
Genre:Drama
Directed by:Peter Jackson
Staring:Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon
Released:January 15th 2010
THE GENERAL IDEA
“The Lovely Bones” centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from “the inbetween”, a surreal limbo that is neither in heaven or earth. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
THE GOOD
This is a powerful story and I am still trying to let it sink in. It’s not formulaic so I find myself guessing ahead of things and always being wrong. That’s refreshing and instinctually frustrating at the same time.
The lovely actress who plays Susie Salmon is just brilliant. I expect great things from such a deep and illustrative soul like this young girl has. She is vibrant on screen in every detail of emotion she portrays.
When there are brief moments of crossover from the “inbetween” and the real world you do feel a chill. A strong divide has been placed on this otherworldly place with bizarre landscapes and the real world. The two do not cross over often, but when they do its impacting.
THE BAD
The movie drags on, and is “boring” as you wait for things to develop. This impacts just how empty their lives are and in essence should be a good thing for the film. The family is happy and very common in the beginning of the film, and after Susie dies and the real drama sets in it is very bleak.
I was not satisfied with the ending, and that moment of justice just feels like it is not impacting enough. You drag yourself through this whole emotional turmoil for the film and find yourself thinking “ok, so that’s that” at the end. Not saying how things resolve, and in some ways they dont.
And the title, it makes NO sense. Just stop trying to figure it out. They had to call it something, and that’s what the book was called. Maybe the book says it better.
OVERALL
This wrenched my heart and any drama that impacts me has to be worth something. Yes, there were “boring” parts, but there is also a great sense of loss, suspense (which is hard to do when you know who the killer is) and very emotional for me as a father.
When I got home, I was waiting by the door for my kids to get home from school so I could hug them. I truly feel fear and pity for anyone who would bring harm to those little shit disturbers!
I give The Lovely Bones a 7 out of 10
I think a 7 is too generous. Scenes in the inbetween seem to drag on and I just wanted them to get back to the family.
Now that I think about it, I could complain about a lot more but its not worth it to write it all out.
I loved the book, but I’m hearing that this thing is atrocious. Ebert absolutely destroyed it in his review.
I’m interested in seeing this, but I don’t know if I’ll make it to the theater for it. Probably a rent.
On another note, I’ve pasted below a little interesting story that directly concerns this bit you wrote above, about there being a great sense of “suspense (which is hard to do when you know who the killer is)”. It was said by a man who knew a thing or two on the topic :)
“There is a distinct difference between ’suspense’ and ’surprise’, and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean.
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let us suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ There is an explosion. The public is
surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table, and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware that the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the décor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions this same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene.
The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: ‘You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There’s a bomb underneath you and it’s about to explode!’
In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second case we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”
-Alfred Hitchcock
Okay, not exactly little, but take from that what you will.
The suspense is built because you don`t know what he is going to do next, but you are fully aware of what he is capable of.
This is very present when they are interacting with him and knowing what he is planning in plain sight and they still dont catch on.
What you have done with this story/quote is further proven my point.
Your comment about it being hard to make a film suspenseful when you already know who the killer is, made me assume that you were confusing “suprise” with “suspense”. When, in reality, the audience must know more information than the main character does for true suspense to take place. In other words, knowing the killer’s identity would actually heighten the level of suspense, unless, of course, they were also going for a “twist”.
That’s all I was getting at.
Stanley Tucci freaked the hell out of me in this movie, he is freakin good!
This movie is a masterpiece but there is no guaruntee you will like it.
It is overwhelmingly powerful but it has these sort of aspects of political incorrectness that are pushed to insane degrees.
Basically what I am saying is if you were a religious christian and you saw Life of Brian you probably would ignore the comedy while being infuriated.
You HAVE to watch this movie without a hint of modern day political correctness and a completely open mind otherwise you will be so overcome with bad emotions you just won’t be able to see it for what it is.
I think this one will leave a trail that will be decades long and probably won’t be appreciated by very many till the subject matter becomes less controversial and people see what he has created here.
Well Rodney, as someone who typically agrees with your points of view, we can not disagree more about this film.
It was a TRAIN WRECK. Now, as Mr.Campea always said, film is subjective, and I totally agree. But I can not understand how you possibly thought that The Lovely Bones had a great deal of (and I quote) “suspense”. There was absolutely zero suspense which was even more underwhelming when they revealed the murderer so early in the movie.
The actress that played Susie was wretched and didn’t come across in the least as having any desire for vengeance.
Also, as I pointed out in a different post, the trailers for this movie were 100 PERCENT MISLEADING. The trailers made me, my wife and our friends believe that the movie was going to be a mystery movie about the murder of a young girl and her after-death quest to help her father solve her murder. As anyone knows who has seen this movie, it was nothing like the trailers portrayed it to be.
The story was one that has been told numerous times in numerous incarnations and brought nothing new to the screen except the screwed up way it was presented with Susie jumping from purgatory to real-life to make-believe.
All in all:
Trailers = misleading
Advertising = misleading
Story = atrocious
Acting = dreadful (Mark Whalberg was the only thing that was remotely redeeming about the flick (I enjoyed the way he portrayed the father’s obsession with finding the killer/getting justice)
SFX - The special fx/CG in this movie was exceptional. Why not when the it was done by the same team that did Lord of the Rings.
Peter Jackson = a tremendous let down, especially after LotR
I give The Lovely Bones a 3 out of 10
Looks like people are 50/50 on this most everywhere.
could it be described (in a sense)like “Let the last one in” in terms of slowly churning out the suspense and paying off in the end.
or is it one of those “Focus Feature” WTF? no closure type of deals?
cause both of those are different but the same
y’know?
dont know what to make from the reviews..
for instance:
I totally “GOT” and enjoyed Where the wild thing’s are, but alot of people missed the point..
is this something of that catergory or is it a let down..
some people see Peter Jackson and get pissed if they dont see a Hobbit or something.
Shit! I just saw Wahlbergs name on the cast list..
That’s Why!
The phrase “the lovely bones” appears briefly in the book, near the very end I believe. Narrator Susie uses it to describe the strength her loved ones gained once she was gone, or something like that. It didn’t really seem to fit then either.
Anyway, I might see this yet! This review was more positive than I thought it would be. Certainly more than others I’ve read.
Oh im sorry Jess, I did not know you had already answered the question already.
Rodney,
I heard they dont show the graphic rape, so im glad about that
Its called The Lovely Bones because of this quote towards the ending:
“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections — sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent — that happened after I was gone.”
Oh I heard the quote, and it still doesn’t mean anything.
Why bones? These “bones” grew in her absence? Why bones? And why are they lovely?
No reason. Its random and makes no sense.
Oh yes. I have no idea.
I was hoping you would make sense of it.
Im 100% sure the author has a solid reason.
Bones are support and strength…they are what holds you up. Even if broken they can regrow to become something stronger. It is in all truth something lovely if you see that sense about it. It’s a system, an a expression of a human experience which most can relate to. Bones common to everyone, create a experience with them and you come to grasp the ever growing experience (strengths or weaknesses). I do find it to be lovely statement all with just two words.
I’m part of the 50/50 that enjoyed this. I thought it was really good honestly. The only thing I really wasn’t into was too much of the “in between” scenes. It didn’t seem to make anything go forward. I was anticipating more what would happen with the family and stanley tucci’s character. Some “in between” stuff, sure…but I was rating the movie higher because of the story, characters, acting, and unfolding of what happened in the real world. I thought that portion of the film was excellent.
I also enjoyed it…well parts of it. The family scenes were easily the most powerful, and Tucci was the best part of movie, his scenes are incredibly memorable. These real-world scenes show how good a director PJ is. The “in-between” world, though, didn’t have the power it should have. On paper I’m sure it sounds amazing to have this fantastic and colorful place, but in the film it just felt like too much. It was too sentimental and through me out of the film. “Less is more” approach would have been better. The only time it really worked for me was when the real-world and in-between world blend. That was incredible, especially the first time you see it.
Honestly, this film is one of the strangest I’ve seen in awhile. It’s either really great with strong drama, or completely misjudged with chessy sentimentality.
First movie I’ve seen in a while where I’m still trying to figure out whether I liked it or not. There were definitely elements I liked a lot (Ronan and Tucci’s performances, the suspense throughout the movie), and others I could have done without (some of the “in between” scenes, and Susan Sarandon’s character just did not work at all for me.)
Anyway, definitely an intriguing movie. Good or bad, still up in the air for me.
I LOVED THE MOVIE IT KEEP ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT
I GIVE IT A PERFECT #10 THEY HAD A LOT OF GRATE
ACTOR AND ACTRESS I HOPE IT GETS AN AWARDS I”M
GOING TO BUY IT WHEN IT COMES OUT I THINK STANLEY
TUCCI IS A VERY GOOD ACTOR
Just saw the movie.. it was indeed moving… i was very disappointed in end… the way murderer dies.. that simple way does not seems to be enough justice…
and finally m still wondering about the title :” THE LOVELY BONES” how does that fit in??? except that dialogues.. which itself doesnot seems to arbit??