The Lovely Bones

Ryan Gosling dropped out of this film just three days prior to shooting due to the old favourite of “creative differences”. All I can say is if you’re standing near Gosling when he’s playing roulette, follow his lead, as he had the right sense to jump ship from this seriously disappointing film. Peter Jackson takes the gold dust of Alice Sebold’s novel, throws it into a computer and churns out a film heavy on special effects and light on tragedy and drama. If you’re not aware of the source material, it’s not a plot spoiler to tell you that the story concerns Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), who after being brutally murdered, narrates the rest of the story from “the in-between” (half way between earth and heaven). Jackson uses this half world as a ridiculous excuse to show some completely over the top and unnecessary special effects totally unrelated to the main aspect of the tale. In fact, it’s fair to say that Jackson has gone CGI mad on a film that needs very little or none at all. Jackson ’s pre-occupation with the effects means the rest of the film suffers badly. Mark Whalberg plays the father slowly being driven to distraction by his own investigation into his daughter’s death, but it never convinces for a moment. Even less convincing is the supposed breakdown of his marriage to Rachel Weisz, meaning that a key scene at the end when they reconcile is meant to play on the emotional heartstrings but ends up damper than a fish and over-played almost to the point of confusion. All this and we haven’t even mentioned Susan Sarandon’s bizarre turn as Susie’s grandmother, which includes a comedy montage scene in the middle of the film that it so out of place I’m amazed it survived the test screenings. Thankfully, two performances save the film from total disaster. Ronan doesn’t set the place alight, but is more than acceptable in most scenes. However, it’s Stanley Tucci as the suspected murderer who steals the show. He gives his character real menace and the abduction scene between himself and Ronan is the highlight of the film cinematically. Said scene is unbearably tense and Jackson actually tops it later in the firm with a further scene that will have you gnawing at whatever fingernails you have left. On seeing these two scenes, and Jackson ’s excellent direction of them, you despair at what might have been.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Decent turns from Ronan and Tucci are lost underneath a ton of CGI and awful direction. Rating: 3/10.