The Lovely Bones - Movie Review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

This film is packed with involving performances, even though Jackson takes a bloated approach to what should be a quietly emotional drama. And in the end, the production design is so lush that it swamps the story's themes.

In 1973, Susie (Ronan) is a happy 14-year-old just beginning to blossom. Her crush on a fellow student (Ritchie) is about to culminate in her first kiss, but she's instead brutally murdered by a creepy neighbour (Tucci). Her parents (Wahlberg and Weisz) are distraught, and Grandma (Sarandon) needs to come help care for Susie's younger siblings (McIver and Christian Thomas Ashdale). Susie watches all of this from "my heaven", longing for her parents to recover their balance and aching for some form of revenge.

The central theme is that Susie's yearning for vengeance is preventing her parents from moving on, and it's also keeping her from resting in peace. As the months and years pass, she struggles to let go of her connections to her family and also to dislodge her killer's hold on her. This intriguing idea is more suited to a small-budget filmmaker forced to find subtle, creative ways to depict the interaction between the afterlife and the living world.

Jackson, of course, has no budgetary constraints, and indulges in constant eye-catching effects that are drenched in colour and symbolism. This luxuriant approach seems odd for a story this fatalistic; it's not likely to be a commercial hit no matter how glorious the digital artistry is. While some viewers will connect with the raw emotional tone, concepts of the cruelty of fate and the fragility of life are lost.

Even so, Ronan delivers another knock-out performance packed with nuance and meaning even though many of her scenes only require reaction shots. It's in her eyes that the film comes truly to life, as it were. The other standouts are Sarandon, who brazenly steals scenes in what's essentially a thankless role, and Tucci, who never resorts to stereotype in his portrayal of a sinister loner. Jackson, on the other hand, continually applies cliches around him, from shadowy angles that generate palpable suspense to a ludicrously over-the-top coda that erases any subtlety the film might have.

Facts and Figures

Year: 2009

Genre: Thriller

Run time: 135 mins

In Theaters: Friday 15th January 2010

Box Office USA: $44.0M

Box Office Worldwide: $93.5M

Budget: $65M

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures

Production compaines: WingNut Films, Key Creatives, DreamWorks SKG, Film4, New Zealand Large Budget Screen Production Grant, Goldcrest Pictures

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 2.5 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 32%
Fresh: 74 Rotten: 159

IMDB: 6.7 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Peter Jackson

Producer: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Aimee Peyronnet, Fran Walsh

Screenwriter: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson

Starring: Rachel Weisz as Abigail Salmon, Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon, Susan Sarandon as Lynn, Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, Stanley Tucci as George Harvey, Michael Imperioli as Len Fenerman, Rose McIver as Lindsey, Carolyn Dando as Ruth Connors, Christian Thomas Ashdale as Buckley Salmon, Reece Ritchie as Ray Singh, Nikki SooHoo as Holly, Jake Abel as Brian Nelson, Amanda Michalka as Clarissa, Thomas McCarthy as Principal Caden, Stink Fisher as Mr. Connors, Andrew James Allen as Samuel Heckler

Also starring: Stefania LaVie Owen, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens