Three years ago I read this book because I heard Peter Jackson would be producing and directing the film version. It took me about a week to read the book... I have to admit I was left with a weird taste after I was done. The author had my attention and sympathy for Susie and the rest of the Salmon family, up until the last few pages of the book when Susie finally gets the chance to come back and instead of warning her father that her murderer was trying to escape and was trying to dump the evidence in the sink hole she decides to have sex with her high school crush! I mean she could of simply just called her father and said "Run to the sink hole with the cops!" or if she didn't care about the dude getting away, "Dad, please move on... I am happy." Thats it! One line of dialogue! Shit, she could of written it on a post it and had the british kid deliver it to her house... ANYTHING!
I have to say that after watching the atrocity that was the film version of "The Time Travelers Wife", I was ready to watch this movie with a grain of salt, if you will. Peter Jackson amazed me as filmmaker, as a film watcher and as an all around geek with his Lord of The Ring Trilogy... I was never so mesmerized as I was with the visual magnitude that was the fellowship entering Lothlorien! It almost brought me to tears! Yes, I know the names... suck it!
Anyway... I must say that Mr. Jackson came through as expected visually. However, I feel that when a producer obtains the rights to a book or a story in general they have certain artistic liberties with which to better or in most cases (*cough* The Time Travelers Wife *cough*) trash a story. I wish team Jackson would have taken these liberties and used them for good... both my best friend and I are avid readers and we both agreed this was one of the few instances where the movie had the potential of being better then the book.
Choosing not to show the rape scene was a bold move on his part because it is such a big part of the story in the book... still I think he did a good job of mixing his biased reasons with an artistic way in which to make us feel her fear and pain. To me the movie seemed a bit too long and slow in certain parts. Some of the visual effects seemed to be compensating for the fact that the story wasn't that good. This reminded me of a quote I read recently "There is no point in having sharp images when you have fuzzy ideas". And I'm sorry, I am a Mark Walhberg fan for some reason unbeknownst to myself, but the man cannot act to save his life... what is it with all the whispering in all his films??? Rachel Weiz was so non-existent in this movie... and they should've alluded to the reason she leaves has also to do with the fact she had an affair with THE DETECTIVE!!! I think Stanley Tucci was the only one who captivated me with his performance, but thats just cause he is an all around good actor... so underrated! The only scene that got me excited was when he finds the other Salmon girl in the house.
THE best character in the book was the grandmother... which Susan Sarandon pulled off in my opinion... HOWEVER... her montage in the movie seems soooo forced. It was disappointing. In the book, she brought a bit of life back into that house and I think that they tried to portray it but came up a little short.
I'll give Peter Jackson a break on this one just because he had the good mind to produce District 9! I can't say I'm surprised I was this disappointed. I try not to read reviews about movies so that I can make up my own mind... but in this case I think the reviews are right... I give it 2.5 stars. (and thats cause 1.5 of those stars are for his visual effects.) I recommend you wait for it to play on Lifetime... OMG thats what it seemed like a big budget Lifetime movie!!!
SONG OF THE WEEK: Don't feel like dancing by Scissor Sisters
