154. The Great Gatsby (2013)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Running Time: 143 mins

The Great Gatsby is an American film based on the classic novel by F.Scott Fitzgerald, about the troubles of a self-made millionaire who tries to get himself back with a woman he met before going off to fight in The First World War, however she is now married to a brutish man who will not let go of her.

This film could not have come out at the pictures at a better time for me, because I actually have an English exam on Monday about the Great Gatsby, so this is really going to help me get a visual representation for my essays (it’s just a pretty cool coincidence).

But it’s a good thing that I read the book before I saw this film, as this adaptation doesn’t really stay that parallel to the original story, with many important bits being cut out, however I only know that because I’ve read the book, which is definitely a lot more boring than this film, as there was evidently a lot of effort made into making this film as theatrical and dramatic as possible.

I thought that there couldn’t have been a better choice of actor to play Gatsby than Leonardo DiCaprio, who once again gave another outstanding performance in this film as the suave yet evidently lonely and nervous man that is Mr. Gatsby.

This film was filled with fantastically dazzling visual effects, taking the 20s New York scene and really bringing it to life. Another thing that impressed me was the soundtrack of this film, taking modern songs and adapting them to 1920s style, which I thought was a really cool addition to the atmosphere, overall a very strange one, a distinct feature of Baz Luhrmann’s unique style of filmmaking.

Overall, I’ll give this an 8.1 because it was very well-written, with fantastic performances, dazzling visual effects, and a great atmosphere, even though it didn’t stay perfectly close to the original story, but it was close enough.