Stopped watching it after 45 minutes
Barely made it there. Nothing happens. No interesting characters. Nothing to see. No reason to continue watching.
7.8/10... seriously? You mean 0.78/10?
You watched 44 minutes too long. Awful movie.
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MovieChat Forums > Atonement (2008) Discussion > Stopped watching it after 45 minutes
As I watched I considered there must be some viewers that are engaged by this, but I wasn't. I gave a 7/10 mainly because I liked McAvoy a lot.
I liked Keira Knightley of course yet Cecilia didn't have much to say.
Benedict Cumberbatch had practically no memorable dialogue. Lost potential there.
Brioney was the main character yet was so one dimensional. She did a monstrous thing. The movie expected too much of the audience to want to follow her path over the years while building little other meaningful tension and continuity around the other characters.
It is always difficult to find two actresses that act the same way when you want a younger and an older version of the same character.
I think Saoirse Ronan is a great actress. I loved her in City of Ember. She scores extreemly high on my list of favorit actresses, straight up next to Jodie Foster who's been my fav for a long time. They should have made all the scenes around her youth, then waited a few years to do the rest. Because I did not like the 18 year old version of Briony. I am sure Romola Garai is a fine actress on her own, but for me the differences you'll see in small movements and way of talking are always to obvious when you cast two different age groups to play one character. A lot of movies get this wrong.
But sadly money wise they tend not to do that.
For me this was the only real issue with the movie. It is probably because I am always a sucker for slow pace time-period set movies like this.
But if one stops watching a good movie like this after 45 minutes... then I can only assume it would simply not be your genre. I myself gave this movie 10/10. I was not bored a single moment.
I guess opnions differ.
I am always a sucker for slow pace time-period set movies like this.
So am I.
then I can only assume it would simply not be your genre.
Each to his/her own. If one doesn't like, don't complain, just move on.
I gave it a 9/10. Not because I don't think it splended. I do. Butif anyone checked my Ratings, I don't give any film a 10. I consider a 10 to be absolute perfection which hasn't a single fault within it. All films have something which is a tiny mistake, or more. The tally on an opinion poll would never come back with only ONE movie taking all the votes. A universal opinion of 10 would make it a most perfect film.
But yeah, it's beyond scrutiny IMO. share
Benedict Cumberbatch had practically no memorable dialogue. Lost potential there.
Good Lord. He's almost the best thing in it. Along with Juno Temple who is also amazingly gifted. Cumberbatch was believably cunning, smarmy, predatory and opportunistic.
Ronan's performance, as Briony, was incredible. One dimensional? I didn't find that at all. She was convincing in her crush on Robbie, her confusion and hurt over the letter and what she saw in the library, her spite in naming Robbie as the perpetrator of the 'crime'. I thought it a very mature and intelligent performance from such a young actress.
For me, the best part of the film is the first half. It has all the beauty, innocence, magic and potential for a bright and interesting future for the lives of the characters, before things go awry. The second half is depressing.
So put some spice in my sauce, honey in my tea, an ace up my sleeve and a slinkyplanb
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Good Lord. He's almost the best thing in it.
You must be joking.
His part could have been played by any other British actor.
BC being considered almost like a god of acting nowadays is beyond ridiculous. share
You must be joking
No, not at all.
His part could have been played by any other British actor.
Obviously his part could have been played by any other male actor (British or otherwise), but the question is could it have been played as well? You'd say yes definitely, I'd say quite possibly. Doesn't negate the fact that IMO he was great as Paul Marshall. Just the right amount of snobbish haughtiness, mixed with creepy predator.
BC being considered almost like a god of acting nowadays is beyond ridiculous.
Clearly we see things quite differently.
I've seen him in many films (all very different roles), and he impresses me every single time.
So put some spice in my sauce, honey in my tea, an ace up my sleeve and a slinkyplanb
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Gosh, I'm stunned. Even if nothing happens (a LOT is happening, actually), the beautiful cinematography and setting should have kept you interested. I'm re-watching it from a recording and loving it more than the first time. Such a tragic story, so beautifully filmed. It is a little slow paced and cold at moments, but that goes with the theme--a steady recollection of events that caused such pain and guilt. Showing how this mess unfolds. I know you'll never come to read these posts, but I highly recommend you try this one again.
shareGosh, I'm stunned. Even if nothing happens (a LOT is happening, actually), the beautiful cinematography and setting should have kept you interested.I totally agree with you. share
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Such a tragic story, so beautifully filmed.
And then there's me, I turned the movie off tonight after 50 min. so I won't cry! I've seen the movie before and love it but it's so sad.
shareabsolutely true i turn it down with my wife after 35 min.. couldnt find nothing to connect dialogues characters story nothing..i mean thats the point of a movie right?to entertain, this movie is total waste of time
shareI am as big a fan of the novel as there is, but even I didn't think too much of this film.
The Constitution guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome.
Seeing that you will never watch it I am going to spoil the movie for you.
Remember the typewriter soundtrack running through the film?, that kinda is a clue as to the plot.
I will start with the final scene that shows Briony, who has had a successful career as an author who is now dying of cancer, being interviewed in the 90's and explaining how her last novel, "Atonement", is kinda of her first novel because it chronicles actual events that began when she was 11. The story is basically factual for James McAvoy up until he is sick and waiting to be evacuated, and for Kiera Knightely, up until she finds herself in an underground air raid shelter during the blitz. All the events after those scenes are fictional scenes from her book "Atonement".
Why call the book "Atonement"?, because after those scenes James McAvoy dies before he is evacuated and Kiera drowns after the bombing bursts a mains.
The author wrote a fictional account of how events would have unfolded had they not died and is atoning for the guilt she felt for basically ruining their lives.
Yeah it's a slow burn and not for everyone, but the payoff at the end is well worth it.