The Great Gatsby Review

Justin and I saw The Great Gatsby on May 10, 2013. I was extremely impressed with this movie. I felt it followed the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald quite well, and the acting performances were well done. I am not the biggest fan of Baz Luhrman, but I felt he did a good job bringing a classic novel to the big screen. The story of course is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, which I thought Tobey Maguire did a great job with. Luhrman presents the big party atmosphere in a very animated way that worked. When you read Gatsby, you have this vision in your head of what these parties look like, and this was pretty close to what I envision. I liked the usage of modern day music as well in these party scenes as it connects past generations to current generations. Leonardo DiCaprio was simply excellent as J. Gatsby displaying that suave, debonaire exterior, while also exploring the demons that haunt him within. When I found out he was cast as Gatsby, I was extremely excited. He is my favorite actor, and he tapped right into the character of the man on the pages. His friendship with Nick was captured well. My favorite part of this movie however lies with the character of Daisy Buchanan. Carey Mulligan is my top three favorite actresses with Ellen Page and Emma Watson being the other two. She put so much meaning, voice, and physical presence into the Daisy Buchanan character that I felt that she was the embodiment of the words on the page. Though the book may portray her as more of a shallow individual, I like Mulligan portraying her as a deeper person. She is absolutely amazing. The love triangle between Daisy, Gatsby, and Tom Buchanan has always been incredible. I was impressed with Joel Edgerton's take on the character. He combined the unlikable nature of the character through his infidelity and controversial opinions with an insecurity deep inside him that his wife is not really by his side. I've always felt that maybe he always knew about the past of Gatsby and Daisy, and this is why he resorted to setting up rendezvous with other women. Everybody has their own views on these characters. Daisy has always been my favorite, so I usually take her side. I think the best scene in this movie was the scene where Gatsby tells Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him. The intensity and emotion in this scene was incredible. Mulligan, DiCaprio, and Edgerton put forth such amazing acting performances in this scene that you felt you were in the room with them. That's when you know you watched something truly special. I think the combination of the Daisy/Gatsby relationship, the Gatsby/Carraway friendship, the hit and run and subsequent consequences from that leading to Gatsby's death at the hands of Myrtle Wilson's husband along with the incredible soundtrack (one of the best in recent memory with songs my Lana Del Rey, the Filter cover for Happy Together, Jay-Z, etc.) made this a very good movie. I will give the movie a 4/5 overall. I was very impressed with this. I think this may be the year that Leonardo DiCaprio gets on the nomination list for Best Actor (not for this movie as it came out early, but for the Wolf of Wall Street in November directed by Martin Scorsese), and I will be extremely happy to see him there. The guy has turned out great movies since 2002, and I want to see him finally win an Oscar. I look forward to more by Carey Mulligan. She commands a screen I feel Mulligan should already have one for An Education. I'm still frustrated that Sandra Bullock won for the Blind Side over that performance. I believe she will win an Oscar eventually as you have to recognize the raw talent this woman has when she is on screen. This was a great movie with a colorful atmosphere mixed with the amazing story we grew up reading.