Reviews

What is to like:

Pacing of the film, neither are you bored nor do you lose track of the events.

Conversations and interactions seem very natural, almost feels like you are there, with the characters (at least to me).

Contrast between quirky, fun-loving and non-pretentious father and his ambitious, sometimes too serious daughter. Development of their relationship and dynamics throughout.

The main female character (the daughter). Not the persona, but the way her character is written. In the beginning only a small portion of her life is shown, but somewhere in the middle of the movie, the first impressions of her change, which leaves you even more interested.

The main character*s (the father) humor and unexpectedness. A man who is the biggest liar in the film, but somehow the most honest.

Funny moments that appear during uncomfortable or serious moments and which catch you off guard.

Many other things.

What is to mildly dislike (kind of):

The usual *it doesn*t feel like an ending* ending. This film could have ended in many different ways and still be believable. This was just one of the possibilities.

Not much more.

Well, it seems they have taken some liberties with adapting the story from the original novel, which sadly for Hollywood films, almost always leaves the movie just a bit worse than than the book. My first thought about the movie after the ending was : "well they had some gorgeous outfits".

Though Dorian depicted here wasn't what I expected (I expected a life- size porcelain doll), Ben Barnes was nevertheless charming and did keep my attention during the film.

The portrayal of Lord Henry was exactly what I expected and fun to watch, but not as nearly as interesting as reading his words from the book.

The actress playing Sibyl Vane was beautiful, but her storyline was completely ruined, she wasn't given any personality and they cut out one of the best parts from the book: the real reason why Dorian breaks off the engagement(which is not her nagging about him going to the club, but her obsession with his love) which signifies the start of him becoming shallow and eventually evil.

What lacked in this film was more of Wilde's philosophy, charm and Lord Henry's paradoxical opinions. I guess they had to cut all of that out in order to make room for a couple of sex scenes and a pointless subplot about Henrys daughter Emily, which of course did nothing good for the film. I know that literature back in the 19th century was subversive, but good Lord, they really read between the lines. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember Dorian sleeping with half of London in the book. They also dedicated a few seconds to advertise autocompany Fiat which ddidnt exist at the time.

One more thing, the musical score made the film sound like a horror movie.

The photography, the visuals and production design were amazing, but it is a missed opportunity.

I really wanted to see this movie because i have heard that it was good, but again, as many of Hollywood movies, it left me disappointed. At the start of the movie you still have some hope because the characters are introduced, but they are not given much personality(except maybe Mark Ruffalo and in some dose Jesse Eisenberg). I liked the idea of a magicians movie, but somewhere in the middle of the movie(when the big act is being performed) i could not restrain myself from laughing at how ridiculous it looked because i felt like i was accidentally watching an SF film, due to all the light and high-tech used in magic tricks. The movie is ambitious and its fun watching the magicians while they are outsmarting the detective during the movie, but when they got to a point when it was time to include some car racing on the bridge it was so confusing to watch because the camera was shaking and showing the faces of the cast instead of the actual car racing. The worst thing in the movie was definitely the forced chemistry the detective and the french woman had and it was painful to watch how they were somehow falling for each other. The end is somewhat unexpected and unrealistic but i guess the whole story then made sense.

This movie is really easy to watch due to great visuals and very cute and stylish costumes, but also because of very lovable characters. The main characters Lynn and Yang both have an edge which i like when watching a movie. Also, their background stories are both sad what makes them broken so it draws them to one another, but disables the film to end happily(which i really wished to have ended differently). The key element of the movie might be the little baby, who is the reason of the warriors journey and who explains his soft heart and inability to do morally wrong, so it makes you care for him. The action scenes are dynamic and agreeable again due to effective costume designs and fine choreography, but a bit over the top with the flying ninjas. There are also those "revenge angles" in the movie, considering Lynne against the man who killed her family and the warrior against his teacher, which are essential for the viewer to feel content and for the characters to relieve themselves from suffering from the past and to move on. All in all, really enjoyable and would like to recommend.