The Giver Review

RYAN: This is the new sic fi drama based on a novel often read in middle school these days and it has been the passion project of star Jeff Bridges, who has worked 18 years to adapt it to the screen.

CAROLINE: Has his passion paid off?

RYAN: It has.  This is a cool movie.  It doesn’t feel altogether original, coming out in the same year as Divergent, and it is also somewhat derivative of Pleasantville, but it’s an entertaining and good watch, nonetheless.

CAROLINE: Well, and it has Meryl Streep going for it, let’s not forget.

RYAN: Exactly.  And it’s hard not to always have her user Oscar-watch because, LBH, let’s be honest… any role she does is fair game.

CAROLINE: True.  If she could get nominated for The Devil Wears Prada, anything is possible.

RYAN: It’s a little bit of a different role for her but it’s nothing stand out among her career.  She doesn’t have a huge role and it’s almost more like her wig does the acting in this movie.

CAROLINE: Are you dissing La Streep?

RYAN: (laughs) Not entirely.  Her role isn’t that large and it’s just nothing earth shattering in comparison to her other roles.  The same can be said of Jeff Bridges.  He’s fine in this and I’m happy that he’s made this happen since it was so important to him, but in the role of The Giver, he just kinda mumbles his way through it, which we’ve seen him do before.  I can appreciate when an actor affects his voice for a role but in this case it didn’t do any favors for his character.

CAROLINE: Did you read the book?

RYAN: No and I wish I had.  I think I’d enjoy the book because the story is really good – though it’s so similar to Divergent in that it’s about a controlled society where citizens are forced into certain life-defining career paths to maintain stability in the culture.  It’s also similar that way to City of Ember.

CAROLINE: Yeah that is a somewhat popular sci fi device these days.

RYAN: It also reminds me a bit, thematically of the recent film Lucy since it illustrates what people might be like when they lack emotions, in this case due to daily medicinal injections that block them out.

CAROLINE: How is like Pleasantville? I saw in the trailer there is some black and white.

RYAN: Yeah it’s because the emotion introduces color into the world, like passion does in Pleasantville. I’m not really giving anything away – it’s not a major plot point, more like a stylistic direction in the movie.  I like that aspect a lot.  It really helps the storytelling.

CAROLINE: And you must like that also because of The Wizard of Oz…

RYAN: It’s good when it’s not overused and it actually says something about the story, you know?  This movie took me a while to get into it.  It’s a bit odd because it’s such a different kind of society and it doesn’t really show the event that evolved to that point.  The score is truly magnificent.

CAROLINE: I never really notice the score unless it’s really good or really bad.

RYAN: I like that this movie raises the moral question about whether when we know better if we’re obligated to do better.  There are some good performances and it’s worth a view.

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