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Craig Younkin
Movie Review
A Mighty Heart
By Craig Younkin Published June 19, 2007
US Release: June 22, 2007
Directed by: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Angelina Jolie , Dan Futterman
R language
Running Time: 103 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $9,172,810
Directed by: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Angelina Jolie , Dan Futterman
R language
Running Time: 103 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $9,172,810
D
Nothing about it was dramatic, inspiring, or moving. It's just a true story that follows the facts way more than it follows the emotions.
"A Mighty Heart" is exactly what this summer needed, a dissapointing serious film to go with the several other dissapointing sequels. Only I hate to sound like a dumb teenager here but at least the sequels had special effects. This movie has Angelina Jolie trying desperately not to look hot. Only there are bigger problems here then her, the first being that this movie is boring. It's not just boring, it's painfully, laboriously boring. It's awful, and almost unwatchable. It's also based on a true story, and the filmmakers never stop reminding us of that. Mariane (Angelina Jolie) and Daniel (Dan Futterman) Pearl are reporters for the Wallstreet Journal who set up camp in Pakistan after 9/11. Then in 2002, Daniel was abducted by extremists while traveling to attend a meeting, leaving Mariane to worry and hope for a safe return.
The problem with this movie is plain and simple - it has no emotional impact. The screenplay seems to read more like a documentary, scene after scene of facts and nothing but facts about the case. There is never a moment when a character reveals a personality or a real ounce of feeling. It's like they're programmed to give us information and that's it. Characters are introduced onscreen for the sole purpose of being a one-dimensional cut-out, a pawn in the dramatization of some aspect of the case. Only the audience has no idea who these people are or what they have to do with anything. Perhaps the movie's biggest problem is that most of the things the movie focuses on have already been revealed to us on the news. If you're going to do a movie like this, people are more interested in the behind the scenes stuff. How does Mariane cope with the abduction and ultimately her own husband's death? There is next to none of that in this movie. I get that you don't want to exploit someone's pain but if you're going to make a movie about strength and preserverence, don't you need a little of it to actually make it work?
Angelina Jolie tries hard. She has the accent down and she's curled her hair and put some dirt on her face but for the most part Mariane just seems like a dreary looking woman. This is the screenplay's fault more than Jolie's, but the message here, at least according to Jolie's voice over at the end of the movie, is that Mariane would not be beaten by the terrorists. Only you really don't get a sense of her optimism or really much of anything from this performance. Only the problem with Jolie is the same problem with the rest of the movie - it's just cold. You just sit there staring at it, waiting for it to end. It's so much worse than I can even put into words. Nothing about it was dramatic, inspiring, or moving. It's just a true story that follows the facts way more than it follows the emotions.
The problem with this movie is plain and simple - it has no emotional impact. The screenplay seems to read more like a documentary, scene after scene of facts and nothing but facts about the case. There is never a moment when a character reveals a personality or a real ounce of feeling. It's like they're programmed to give us information and that's it. Characters are introduced onscreen for the sole purpose of being a one-dimensional cut-out, a pawn in the dramatization of some aspect of the case. Only the audience has no idea who these people are or what they have to do with anything. Perhaps the movie's biggest problem is that most of the things the movie focuses on have already been revealed to us on the news. If you're going to do a movie like this, people are more interested in the behind the scenes stuff. How does Mariane cope with the abduction and ultimately her own husband's death? There is next to none of that in this movie. I get that you don't want to exploit someone's pain but if you're going to make a movie about strength and preserverence, don't you need a little of it to actually make it work?
Angelina Jolie tries hard. She has the accent down and she's curled her hair and put some dirt on her face but for the most part Mariane just seems like a dreary looking woman. This is the screenplay's fault more than Jolie's, but the message here, at least according to Jolie's voice over at the end of the movie, is that Mariane would not be beaten by the terrorists. Only you really don't get a sense of her optimism or really much of anything from this performance. Only the problem with Jolie is the same problem with the rest of the movie - it's just cold. You just sit there staring at it, waiting for it to end. It's so much worse than I can even put into words. Nothing about it was dramatic, inspiring, or moving. It's just a true story that follows the facts way more than it follows the emotions.
Craig's Grade: D
Craig's Overall Grading: 340 graded movies
| A | 10.9% | |
| B | 41.8% | |
| C | 31.8% | |
| D | 15.3% | |
| F | 0.3% |
