Quickie Reiview:
After an accident, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) gains the gift of endless youth and eternal life. Unable to age Adaline was forced to live a solitary life for decades. Everything changes when she meets a charismatic man, Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman), complicating the life she had accepted. The Age of Adaline overall is a decent film, with good acting that make the relationships and the inherent conflict feel real. However, the story mechanic of agelessness is at times mishandled and hence ends up feeling like a gimmick. Though this is not a perfect film, The Age of Adaline gives a respectable effort in delivering a believable love story without becoming cheesy.
Full Review:
Romance movies is usually not my thing. Not because I'm a heartless guy, but because most of the time the stories tend to be overly simplistic depiction of love *cough* Nicholas Sparks movies *cough*. Excuse me. Though The Age of Adaline did have the potential to be exactly that, I was curious as to how agelessness would be used in the context of a romantic film.
Blake Lively surprised me in this film. Sure, she may be one of the most gorgeous actresses in Hollywood (well done Ryan Reynolds), but I was never impressed by her acting chops. This movie has changed my opinion on Lively considerably. She played the character in a way that despite the 29 year old look there is an air of sophistication about her that has developed through years of wisdom. So the fact that she was able to make us believe that mentally she is a much older woman is definitely commendable. The chemistry she had with rest of the cast also added a lot of history to their relationships without always depending on flashbacks. Apart from the performances, the film looked great. The cinematography of the different ages brought a lot of character to the movie, transporting you through the different decades Adaline lived through.
The problem the movie has is that the agelessness story mechanic feels under-used. Of course there are multiple flashbacks and there are hints at why she chose the way she lives her life. Yet, I can think of multiple way similar relationship conflicts could've been explored without the need for that mechanic. That's why I wanted the movie to spend more screen time in the past, to really show the transitions that Adaline went through. The way the flashbacks work here is that they are always used when it is most convenient to explain her relationship with another character. Her past is never used to show her transform as a person over the years, so the agelessness becomes just means to add drama to a love story. Also I must mention, I absolutely hated the narration in the movie. It's not very often but every time the narrator spoke it pulled me out of the movie, because for some reason they felt the need to explain her condition scientifically. Uh nobody cares how this miracle works in terms of fake science. Let the audience just accept it and move on with the story.
It's a pity that the one thing that made The Age of Adaline unique was not fully taken advantage off. Nevertheless, the solid performances from Blake Lively and the rest of the cast helped the movie to not completely disappear into the noise of generic romantic movies. While there are noticeable flaws, there are certainly also some redeemable qualities to this movie.
After an accident, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) gains the gift of endless youth and eternal life. Unable to age Adaline was forced to live a solitary life for decades. Everything changes when she meets a charismatic man, Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman), complicating the life she had accepted. The Age of Adaline overall is a decent film, with good acting that make the relationships and the inherent conflict feel real. However, the story mechanic of agelessness is at times mishandled and hence ends up feeling like a gimmick. Though this is not a perfect film, The Age of Adaline gives a respectable effort in delivering a believable love story without becoming cheesy.
Full Review:
Romance movies is usually not my thing. Not because I'm a heartless guy, but because most of the time the stories tend to be overly simplistic depiction of love *cough* Nicholas Sparks movies *cough*. Excuse me. Though The Age of Adaline did have the potential to be exactly that, I was curious as to how agelessness would be used in the context of a romantic film.
Blake Lively surprised me in this film. Sure, she may be one of the most gorgeous actresses in Hollywood (well done Ryan Reynolds), but I was never impressed by her acting chops. This movie has changed my opinion on Lively considerably. She played the character in a way that despite the 29 year old look there is an air of sophistication about her that has developed through years of wisdom. So the fact that she was able to make us believe that mentally she is a much older woman is definitely commendable. The chemistry she had with rest of the cast also added a lot of history to their relationships without always depending on flashbacks. Apart from the performances, the film looked great. The cinematography of the different ages brought a lot of character to the movie, transporting you through the different decades Adaline lived through.
The problem the movie has is that the agelessness story mechanic feels under-used. Of course there are multiple flashbacks and there are hints at why she chose the way she lives her life. Yet, I can think of multiple way similar relationship conflicts could've been explored without the need for that mechanic. That's why I wanted the movie to spend more screen time in the past, to really show the transitions that Adaline went through. The way the flashbacks work here is that they are always used when it is most convenient to explain her relationship with another character. Her past is never used to show her transform as a person over the years, so the agelessness becomes just means to add drama to a love story. Also I must mention, I absolutely hated the narration in the movie. It's not very often but every time the narrator spoke it pulled me out of the movie, because for some reason they felt the need to explain her condition scientifically. Uh nobody cares how this miracle works in terms of fake science. Let the audience just accept it and move on with the story.
It's a pity that the one thing that made The Age of Adaline unique was not fully taken advantage off. Nevertheless, the solid performances from Blake Lively and the rest of the cast helped the movie to not completely disappear into the noise of generic romantic movies. While there are noticeable flaws, there are certainly also some redeemable qualities to this movie.