The Lovely Bones Review

Friday, February 12, 2010 , Posted by Should I See It at 3:01 AM




Film: The Lovely Bones
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci and Susan Sarandon.
Plot: Based on the book by Alice Sebold, the film centres on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.



Big things were expected from The Lovely Bones. Mainly because it’s directed by Peter Jackson and written by the same people that brought us The Lord of the Rings and Steven Spielberg is a producer. The film’s stars have either won or been nominated for an Academy Award. So that’s some pretty big cinematic muscle pushing one film. Plus Alice Sebolds book has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. So having high expectations was not unreasonable. And it’s not like it’s a bad film. It’s okay. It’s just that with all those names behind it you expect something great.

In some respects the film really delivers. Susie’s heaven is beautiful. The way the visuals link earth and Susie’s heaven are especially creative. I especially liked the scene where her father (Mark Wahlberg) is running through the cornfield chasing after her killer, and Susie is running alongside him in the gazebo in her heaven. I also loved seeing her father’s ‘boats in bottles’ drift ashore in Susie’s heaven.



 
The Lovely Bones is confronting. But then again, you never really see the ‘violence’ take place; it’s the implication that’s scarier than actually seeing it. The film creates a lot of suspense. I was terrified that Susie’s sister Lindsey (Rose McIver) wouldn’t make it out of Mr Harvey’s house (even though I have read the book, and knew that she would!)

Most of the creepiness comes from Stanley Tucci’s performance. But the creepiness of Mr Harvey comes not because he is out of control, but rather how calculating he is. Mr Harvey plans his murders in detail. One of the scenes that I found the most… I’m not sure of the right word…. Well let’s say when the police officers came to question him about what he was doing the day Susie disappeared, and he hurries to set up a scene for himself- a plate of cookies, an open magazine, he even goes not far as to spread a few crumbs around- I was a little bit freaked out, because that scene showed exactly how sane this deranged man is.



Good performances from Saoirse Ronan and also Susan Sarandon in an uncharacteristically comic role.

The most frustrating thing about the film is the lack of character development.

Actually the character that gets the most attention and development is the dead girl, Susie. But how worthwhile is this character development? I mean, she’s dead!

As for the people still alive, they are sketches of real people: there is no depth or anything to really define them as characters unique to this story.

Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg are forgettable as Susie’s parents. I never once believed them as a married couple or as parents to Susie, Lindsey and Buckley. I’m not sure if this is the fault of the script or the actors… but you would expect actors of that calibre to be able to ‘act’ their way through some of the things the script is missing.


 
While the book is told from Susie’s point of view, the story is really about her family and how they cope, the heaven stuff is just incidental, it helps move the narrative along, as opposed to being the narrative itself. However, the film is too in love with its images of heaven, which while wonderful, get in the way of the story. I understand that the heaven aspect makes this particular story unique. It separates it from all of the other ’my child has been murdered and how will I cope’ movies that we’ve all seen (or can at least imagine!), but there is too much ‘heaven.’ The earth storyline feels empty; there are too many pieces missing to have the audience make a real commitment to the characters that are still alive.

Now, the ending. Some have called it uplifting (Herald Sun, I am looking at you) but I would say that the condensed time frame of the film and the collective way in which everyone deals with their grief, seems forced.



Should I See It?

If there’s nothing else to see, the film isn’t painful to watch or anything like that, but it wouldn’t be my first choice.



The Lovely Bones Official Site here.