CinemaLover

After watching Becket I thought I was in for another classic. But it turned out to be on of the biggest flops I have ever seen. Unlike Becket the dialogue was filled up with imaterial and seemed to repeat itself

For example throughout the movie it seems that O'toole and Hepburn are in engaged in a major argument when suddenly it turns around into a love scene. I can recall of this happening at least 5 times throughout the movie. A second aspect to the dialogue was the relationships. The brothers were all forming alliances with each other King Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and King Philip of France. At one point of the movie I had no idea who was supporting who. For example there is a scene were all three brothers are conversing with King Philip, but each time one walks in the other starts to hide. Even King Henry the II walks in and suddnely it turns into a huge argument. Even in the ending provides no resolve to the movie when suddenly Eleanor of Aquitane and King Henry II resolve their relationship. I have no idea how this movie could win an Oscar for best screenplay.

Another disappointing part of the movie was the acting. The brothers other than Richard (Anthony Hopkins) seemed to be out of character and did not show enough expression. King Philip (Timothy Dalton) seemed to be over the top. But that I could with stand. The performance that disappointed me the most was Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine (especially after winning an Oscar for it). She seemed to struggle with her British accent. She also was very much over the top and wasn't very convincing as a Queen. She was a serious mis-cast. The two acting performances that held this movie together was Peter O'toole as King Henry II (who probably deserved the Oscar) who probably played better than he did in Becket because he was required to and Anthony Hopkins as Richard who played vet good as the son with a true desire of becoming king. Other than these two great performances, this great story was turned into a inconclusive and enigmatic spectacle.

This movie is not your ordinary Hollywood flick. It has a great and deep message. This movie has a foundation and just kept on being built on from their and that foundation is hope.

Other than just the message of this movie the acting was phenomenal. Tim Robbins gave one of the greatest performances ever. He was inspiring, intelligent and most of all positive. His performance just made me smile. Robbins plays Andy Dufresne who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He is gets to life sentences but yet never gives up hope. In he becomes friends with Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding played by Morgan Freeman. Freeman who gives the finest performance of his career has unlike Robbins lost hope. He is in deep regret of the crime that he committed. His way of deflecting the pain away is by trying to not feel anything at all. With his friendship with Andy he learns that without our hopes and dreams we have nothing. Andy also becomes friends with the rest of Red's group. James Whitmore also gave a great performance as Brooks Halten who gets out of prison parole but in the words of Red he has been "institutionalized".

The directing by Frank Darabont was just magnificent. He kept this movie at a great steady pace along with the writing and great cinematography. He portrayed prison life in such a horrifying way, but not in terms of the physical pain but the stress and pain that wares mentally on the inmates, some of which deserve a second chance.

Whatever you do, don't listen to the people who say this movie is overrated because this is one of the most inspiring and greatest movies ever. It has everything you could possibly want.