Official Synopsis
“The Great Gatsby” follows would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.
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The film opens with a down and out recovering alcoholic Nick Carraway (played by Tobey Maguire), who is recounting his tale of Jay Gatsby and what he was, what he had become and what he ended up being after everything was said and done. He weaves a tragic tale of living in a rich world and always looking in from the outside. Starting off Carraway’s already sad tale, the film has Carraway reunite with his old chum, Tom Buchanan, who is an ‘old money’ man, living a careless life around his marriage with Carraway’s cousin Daisy, who is unhappier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. We’re shown immediately where Tom stands in the scheme of the story, as we’re quickly introduced to his mistress and boozing/partying ways. Shortly after, Carraway is introduced to the life of Jay Gatsby through one of Gatsby’s enormous parties. Somehow, Gatsby is led to Carraway with intentions of getting together with Carraway’s cousin, Daisy.
Sounds like a solid love story, correct? I mean, you have Daisy unhappy as can be in her marriage with Tom, looking for something to brighten her spirit and soul. Things progress and we soon find out that Daisy and Gatsby had a previous love affair prior to Gatsby going into World War I. Again, sounds like a solid love story.
Things kind of turn upside down, as Gatsby starts wooing and pressuring Daisy into giving up her sham marriage with Tom. Daisy falls in love all over again with Gatsby and you, the audience, start predicting how things are bound to end up in this movie. Well, things start getting a bit jumbled, as the film starts feeling the need to go from 35mph to 120mph. I blame time constraints for this, and that’s practically always the reason when it comes to translating books to film.
*SPOILERS START*
Anyway, when the movie speeds up, the beef of the story starts to look a little thin. We don’t fully get the rekindled love between Gatsby and Daisy. We don’t get how in the world Tom finds out about the entire affair between Gatsby and his wife. All of it towards the end seems to happen, especially when Gatsby’s car crashes into Tom’s mistress, who thinks Tom is behind the wheel, and ends up killing her. We’re literally taken from love affair to Tom’s reveal to the death of Tom’s mistress, and then spiraling towards the end of the movie. All of this happens within the span of 20 minutes. That’s 20 minutes to fully wrap this film, which ends with Gatsby not getting the girl, Tom winning and Tom’s mistress’ husband putting a bullet in Gatsby’s back.
Once dead, we find out that Daisy wasn’t going to leave Tom for Gatsby. Gatsby was never going to win the girl simply because of his status in society and ways he makes money (I won’t ruin that for you), which is how this movie should end during this time period. Maguire’s Carraway is left as the last person who loved Gatsby and adored Gatsby’s reason to live. Carraway’s character is crushed in the process, as he truly sees the world he was residing in, the world of the rich and ruthless, and its wicked ways.
Again, we’re talking about a 20-30 minute wrap for all of this underneath the spoilers heading. It’s way too quick, which causes an unsatisfied feeling when the credits start rolling. You don’t feel anything for Daisy and Gatsby other than pity for Gatsby thinking the relationship was going to work out. That relationship should have been tragic in every sense of the word. The audience should have gasped a bit when Gatsby doesn’t win at the end, but rather gets a bullet in the back for his endless love affair with the past. The audience should have cursed Daisy for not leaving her husband, and felt scorn for her character. Sadly, none of this comes to fruition. You literally feel nothing for both tragic endings. The reason is that the climb to get to that peak in the story is way too short. There simply wasn’t enough build to these moments, which is why it all feels ‘blah’ at the end.
*SPOILERS END*
I really wanted a better resolution. I could have lived without some of the glamorous parts at the beginning, or shaved off some moments at the party that were unnecessary. Focusing on the love triangle would have been better and would have resolved the emptiness at the end.
Having said that, the film was mostly fun and intriguing. You still get strong performances from all parties, especially Maguire, who really shows his range through Carraway (DiCaprio was damn good too, but you know that already). You also still get the glitz and glam that Luhrmann films are known for, and should be known for until he decides to retire. It’s just the last part which ended with a whimper rather than a bang. It deserved a bit more time to really tell the story that Luhrmann could produce. 10-15 more minutes in the oven would have made this cake a lot tastier. Regardless, if you love Luhrmann’s style and pizazz then you’ll like what he does here. It just needed a bit more to push it over the edge into greatness.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the film, it’s really quite good. Like I mentioned above, you get the colorful glitz and glam that is typical of Luhrmann films (see Australia and Moulin Rouge for examples), which lend well to the HD format. While the green screening is a bit strong in some areas, there are literally no imperfections in the delivered picture. All the colorful moments of this 20s period piece shine through quite beautifully. Lots of strong blues and yellows make up the majority of the film, with blacks and whites backing them up. There are zero compression issues and no color banding present in the picture. You will get lost in DiCaprio’s eyes because they’re so darn blue. *SIGH* AHEM.
The audio comes to you in DTS-HD 5.1 and the video aspect ratio is 2.4:1.
As for the features, here’s what you’re looking at:
· The Greatness of Gatsby
· “Within and Without” With Tobey Maguire
· The Swinging Sounds of Gatsby
· The Jazz Age
· Razzle Dazzle: The Fashion of the ’20s
· Fitzgerald’s Visual Poetry
· Gatsby Revealed
· Deleted Scenes
· Trailers
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You get a very strong set of features with this release. The featurettes included will extend the life of the film, especially The Greatness of Gatsby, a featurette with Luhrmann leading the way. Warner Home Video pulled out all the stops to keep you in the time period and mindset of The Great Gatsby, and they definitely did so with these features. I wish the soundtrack was included with these features (Luhrmann’s films always have great music, and this is no exception). All in all, expect some ‘great’ things from the features.
Own “The Great Gatsby” on Blu-ray Combo Pack and HD Digital Download on 8/27
