Haven't We Been Down This Road Before?
Written: Jul 02 '09 (Updated Jul 02 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Acting was superb. Supporting cast was even better.
Cons: Spiritless pacing at several points throughout the film.
The Bottom Line: Revolutionary Road was a moderately interesting film with strong characters and weak pacing. Acting was exceptional.
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| coldsteel7's Full Review: Revolutionary Road |
Kate Winslet was refreshing in The Reader. Her performance in The Reader made the novel film exceptional. Kate is a solid actress. Leonardo DiCaprio is slowly growing on me. The most recent film I have seen with DiCaprio in it was The Blood Diamond, which he brought great life to. The two have decent chemistry as evidenced by Titanic. However, this film was a poor choice for them to reunite in.
Revolutionary Road takes place in Connecticut in the years following World War II. A young man and woman fall in love after the war. A picture of the soldier standing in front of the Eiffel Tower inspires the half-baked idea to sell their house and move to Paris with their two children. The idea and the marriage fall apart with the announcement of an unexpected, unplanned pregnancy. The pregnancy affects both of the main characters in different ways creating a division that seems impossible to breach. Irrational decisions lead to loss.
The worst thing about Revolutionary Road was the pacing. Independent films are after slow and require patience for the rewarding storyline. Revolutionary Road tested that patience for a full two hours, while never really delivering anything of substance. Yes, it was a depressing film with controversial subject matter and a few great comic diversions, but for the most part, the script was tired and boring. Revolutionary Road managed to lose my attention several times when it got bogged down with the sluggish pacing.
In contrast to the terrible pace of this film, Revolutionary Road had phenomenal acting all the way around. DiCaprio is slowly starting to win me over...I used to strongly dislike him as an actor. I can sum up his skill with a closing scene, where DiCaprio displays emotion the emits both loss and lack of direction. When his character is called by one of his children, he manages to maintain that displaced look while acknowledging the child with a distant smile that seemed genuinely forced through the fog of depression. That single scene demonstrated the gift that DiCaprio has for immersing himself in character. There were some excellent arguments between DiCaprio's character, Frank Wheeler and his wife April (Kate Winslet). These exchanges deomonstrated great skill from both players.
With headliners like Winslet and DiCaprio, it might be easy to overlook the supporting cast, but not in this film. If nothing else, Revolutionary Road, was exceptionally well cast. Kathy Bates is getting better with age. She delivered a quirky performance as the Wheeler's real estate agent (Helen Givings) that was outstanding. Her son, John Givings, visits from the insane asylum and injects the only true life into this film. John Givings (Michael Shannon) provided insight into some of the psychological issues in play, while creating exceptionally tense, interesting and comic situations that redeemed the writers just a bit. Shannon played an enjoyable nutcase in the film Bug, in a role that was not unlike the John Givings role in terms of intense insanity with an eerie quality of coherence. The supporting cast were a definite bright spot in this film.
There was one thing that I noticed in the film that nagged at me intensely. The Wheelers have two children. These children are mentioned in a few scenes but are only seen very briefly in three scenes (to the best of my recollection). I kept thinking that something had happened to the children and that the writing would eventually resolve why the children weren't present. In retrospect, I was left wondering why the limited attention to the children by writer Justin Haythe. I did not read Richard Yates novel to see if it might clear things up, but I doubt it would. One interesting thing that Haythe slipped into the film was a set of steamer tickets to Paris on Cunard Lines. I thought that detail was interesting considering Cunard bought the "White Star Lines" that owned the Titanic...maybe a veiled reference to the blockbuster that DiCaprio and Winslet starred together in.
Revolutionary Road was justifiably rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. There were two sex scenes and one scene that implies a sexual tryst had just transpired. This scene included brief nudity...breast...no big deal in terms of ratings. The more difficult subject matter dealt with the issue of abortion and included some very strong discussions on death and abortion that were troubling. The semi graphic nature of the issue brings the point home in a manner that cannot be ignored. There is very tough scene to watch. Although the gore factor is moderate, the way it is handled visually has a strong impact. I am glad that I did not watch this film with children present.
Revolutionary Road had a tolerable plot with terrible pacing. The acting made this movie. Period. Without the cast of characters chosen, this film would not have had nearly the impact that it has had. I found the performances to be exceptional, which included the supporting cast. The hebetudinous movement allowed my mind to wander at times, almost completely losing me once or twice. I'm not sure what could have saved the pacing. The introduciton of the crazy neighbor was redeeming to an extent, but was not capable of overcoming the tendency of this film to drone. The pacing killed it for me. I want to give this film four stars, but simply can't bring myself to do it. Three stars out of a possible five.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Serious Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Pacing
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