DVD Review: Atonement starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy

I just now finished watching Atonement and feel the need to immediately sit down and write a review - because if I don't get my thoughts out now, then I may never be able to. Atonement is one of those movies that is forgettable - and I'm getting the sense that in the morning, I won't remember that I even saw it at all.

Part of this has to do with the fact that Atonement - despite its seven Academy Award nominations - didn't really go anywhere. It started off strong - built up, in the middle, to become quite a snooze - and then left off with an unsettling, unsatisfying ending. And while Atonement did do some things right (costumes, soundtrack, cinematography, performances - to name a few), where it went awry is precisely where a movie such as this can't afford to: with the story.

Atonement is a film with an identity crisis. Is it a romance? A period epic? A war drama? A mystery? In some ways it's none of the above; in others, it's all of these things. Act 1 is a somewhat mysterious period piece set in 1935 London, with a story built upon a foundation of deceit, drama, and passion. It centers around the tale of a young girl named Briony (Saoirse Ronan) who - out of jealousy? spite? youthful misunderstanding? - spins a lie that sets off a series of dramatic consequences for her family, in particular her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and her sister's lover, Robbie (James McAvoy).

Act 2 of the film showcases Robbie going off to France to fight in the war. The shots that director Joe Wright has captured throughout this middle part of the film are often spectacular (one scene, in particular, showcases a dramatic shot along the beach that is surely one of the longest, and most breathtaking, I've seen); however, it has been at the expense of the plot itself. Robbie at war is hardly a central part of the story at all - and given the timing of the release of the film, I can't help but feel as if the message is a bit preachy, if not overdone. The tension here is supposed to revolve around the lovelorn pair of Robbie and Cecilia and their heartbreak of not being able to be together... but, I'll tell you, a key problem, for me, with Atonement is that it didn't take the time to build upon the most important element of a romantic film: the romance. Apart from one sexual tryst, these two lovebirds didn't convey at all the fact that they were in love and, further, that we as viewers should care much about their tragic separation.

Yet the story continues, and Act 3 begins to pick up a bit of a pace again as we see Briony as a young woman (Romola Garai) trying to come to terms - to atone, if you will - with what she did to her family, and to her sister, as a girl. It is from here on out that the film flits in and out of drama and romance, fiction vs. nonfiction, fantasy vs. reality. Throughout, Atonement takes the liberty of skipping around in time with annoying subtitles that announce "four years later" and then "six months earlier" and then "three weeks earlier" and then expects us to not only keep up - but to care. Unfortunately, this haphazard style - combined with at least three different methods of storytelling and varying plotlines (some truth, some fantasy) - ultimately cause much of this Oscar nominated film to falter.

All in all, I did like Atonement... but I didn't love it. I suppose that, what with all of the hype, I was expecting more. Instead, I got an average drama with gargantuan aspirations. It took risks, and some of them - such as the astonishing performances (including Saoirse Ronan's Oscar nominated role) - paid off. Others, however - such as the storyline that didn't manage to satisfy - made me wish that I hadn't put myself through the few hours of watching it. 

• The Daily Dawdler Rating: C

• Focus Features, Rated R. DVD Release Date: 03/18/08. Available online at Amazon.com.

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