The Lovers (2015) Directed by Roland Joffé
To be honest I do feel that just because this is a mainstream movie, directed by acclaimed director Roland Joffé and starring the likes of Josh Hartnett, people are more critical of it and harsh on it but having said that, this clearly is a movie with plenty of problems in it.
It first of all is definitely true that this movie comes about a decade too late. I genuinely do believe that when this movie got written and picked up it featured a pretty original story and concept in it but once it finally got made and was finished, after years and years of delay, a bunch of other movies, including some big successes, featuring a similar sort of concept, got made already, making this movie seem 'outdated', unoriginal and not at all all that interesting to watch.
It's the type of movie that crosses time and space, featuring multiple different story lines, featuring different characters, that are all somehow linked to each other. A romantic movie with a science-fiction like twist and angle. Wish I could say that the movie handles it well though, since it most definitely doesn't. It mostly feels like a very messy movie and not messy in a confusing kind of way but more in the sense that things never get told in an engaging, strong enough, way and things never feel connected to each other at all. It really doesn't seem to add anything at all to this movie that it's set during different time periods in the first place and it makes things needlessly complex, while the main plot-line itself remains a far too simplistic and standard one. It results in an incredibly uneven movie, that filled with plenty of potential and good intentions but the execution of it is far too lacking.
Maybe it all can be 'blamed' on the fact that this movie was a troubled production from the beginning. Money issues, actors dropping out of it. It took about 5 years before this movie to finally be finished and released. And that's also definitely how the movie comes across as; as if certain scenes were filmed months or years after the other. There is never a good flow to anything and things don't feel connected through its story, dialog and performances. Every scene feels like a thing of its own, that doesn't blend in with anything else.
It's also especially disappointing how this is a movie that seems to feature a bigger than life type of love-story in it but there actually is zero romance throughout the entire movie. There just isn't any chemistry between the characters, who seem to have nothing in common and we as the viewers never get to see- or understand why these people ever fall for each other. ironically enough co-stars Tamsin Egerton and Josh Hartnett have been a couple since 2012, the same time they were both working together on this movie and the two of them are also expecting their first child by now. So there most have been some chemistry between the two of them, there just wasn't any of that to be found on the screen as well. The same could be said about all of the other characters as well that the Josh Hartnett one is supposed to fall for throughout the movie. It never feels like anything natural or realistic.
Guess that the adventures and action moments work out pretty well for the movie. It at least makes things fun and exciting to watch at times but again, it's nothing too special or original to watch all. It's not even all that well made, which arguable mostly has to do with the bad flow and build up of the movie. There is never any good tension and suspense for instance, so when anything exciting occurs it's hard to feel anything for it. It just happens, it's good to watch but you couldn't care less about what happens to the characters or if they will end up together by the end of the movie.
It's a very flat movie, with no good emotions, no good romance and no good characters to ever care about, while the movie its main story and concept provided the movie with plenty of opportunities for this. A failed attempt that honestly isn't the worst movie you could watch but there at the same time is absolutely nothing in it that makes this movie worthwhile.
5/10
Watch trailer
It first of all is definitely true that this movie comes about a decade too late. I genuinely do believe that when this movie got written and picked up it featured a pretty original story and concept in it but once it finally got made and was finished, after years and years of delay, a bunch of other movies, including some big successes, featuring a similar sort of concept, got made already, making this movie seem 'outdated', unoriginal and not at all all that interesting to watch.
It's the type of movie that crosses time and space, featuring multiple different story lines, featuring different characters, that are all somehow linked to each other. A romantic movie with a science-fiction like twist and angle. Wish I could say that the movie handles it well though, since it most definitely doesn't. It mostly feels like a very messy movie and not messy in a confusing kind of way but more in the sense that things never get told in an engaging, strong enough, way and things never feel connected to each other at all. It really doesn't seem to add anything at all to this movie that it's set during different time periods in the first place and it makes things needlessly complex, while the main plot-line itself remains a far too simplistic and standard one. It results in an incredibly uneven movie, that filled with plenty of potential and good intentions but the execution of it is far too lacking.
Maybe it all can be 'blamed' on the fact that this movie was a troubled production from the beginning. Money issues, actors dropping out of it. It took about 5 years before this movie to finally be finished and released. And that's also definitely how the movie comes across as; as if certain scenes were filmed months or years after the other. There is never a good flow to anything and things don't feel connected through its story, dialog and performances. Every scene feels like a thing of its own, that doesn't blend in with anything else.
It's also especially disappointing how this is a movie that seems to feature a bigger than life type of love-story in it but there actually is zero romance throughout the entire movie. There just isn't any chemistry between the characters, who seem to have nothing in common and we as the viewers never get to see- or understand why these people ever fall for each other. ironically enough co-stars Tamsin Egerton and Josh Hartnett have been a couple since 2012, the same time they were both working together on this movie and the two of them are also expecting their first child by now. So there most have been some chemistry between the two of them, there just wasn't any of that to be found on the screen as well. The same could be said about all of the other characters as well that the Josh Hartnett one is supposed to fall for throughout the movie. It never feels like anything natural or realistic.
Guess that the adventures and action moments work out pretty well for the movie. It at least makes things fun and exciting to watch at times but again, it's nothing too special or original to watch all. It's not even all that well made, which arguable mostly has to do with the bad flow and build up of the movie. There is never any good tension and suspense for instance, so when anything exciting occurs it's hard to feel anything for it. It just happens, it's good to watch but you couldn't care less about what happens to the characters or if they will end up together by the end of the movie.
It's a very flat movie, with no good emotions, no good romance and no good characters to ever care about, while the movie its main story and concept provided the movie with plenty of opportunities for this. A failed attempt that honestly isn't the worst movie you could watch but there at the same time is absolutely nothing in it that makes this movie worthwhile.
5/10
Watch trailer
