Movie Reviews weekend 29Feb08 (cont.)

 

It’s hard to review this movie, because it’s been done before. This movie has been written about, and performed so many times that it’s hard to call this movie “good”. However, it’s also hard to call it “bad”, it's more "average" or the word I use below is "generic". The story of Henry the VIII and his split from the Catholic Church is historic. The story of Anne Boleyn is a story of desire, greed, power, lust, sex, and ultimately ruin and death. I’m afraid that it is impossible to combine all these themes into one almost 2 hour movie. 

 

Natalie Portman as Anna Boleyn is good, but her range of emotions displayed throughout the movie doesn’t seem to match the emotion that needs to be portrayed at that particular time. And finally in the end her cries and tears do not match the strength she should have had throughout the movie. 

 

I believe the rating of this movie also tells you something about the content . . . or lack there of. The movie is rated PG-13 and judging by what the content needed to be in order for this movie needed to be in order for this movie to be more interesting the content should probably have been beefed up to warrant an R movie. We’re talking about two sisters having sex with the king to improve their family standing. That’s the first act of the movie. Making that storyline PG-13 is a crime against history.

 

I’ll try and keep this short by finishing here.  In the end, this movie is generic (which is perhaps the reason I can't write more about the movie). A headline of young up and coming, beautiful stars were cast to improve the movies status but in the end the movie plays on the routine, it is generic in every sense of the word.

 

Star rating: 2