Now onto the review….
All I have to say is wow.
Alright that’s it the review is over.
Just kidding. But seriously wow. Going into this movie as someone who has barely seen anything relating to it or without knowing it is an adaptation of a book I thought the worst of it. It turns out it was actually rather captivating. The movie starts off with an immediate hint of action and *spoiler alert if you haven’t seen any previews or read the book* the reason why the male protagonist, Will Traynor played by Sam Claflin, is confined to a wheelchair. It then quickly transitions to introducing the female protagonist, Louisa Clark played by Emilia Clarke, and all of the issues in her life. By quickly I mean you are left wondering what the hell happened to Will in the first minute of the movie.
At first this transition seemed a little jarring and forced. As if they did not want to put a scene between the two, though not having read the book that may be how it actually goes. But on the same topic the rest of the movie jumps around like that as well. There are many times where I am left thinking “What happened between the scenes?” I digress. After introducing the Louisa Clark they begin linking the two together and we slowly find out more about Will and the life he lived prior to his wheelchair confining incident. Once the two meet the movie started taking a path I did not think it would take and I actually applaud it for breaking the Rom-Com mold. The ending seemed to happen at the right time in the story for me and that made me happy. Everyone’s problems were solved for the most part as all endings should go in a Romantic Comedy.
Overall the movie was great and not what I expected. The character progression, though at times seemed fast, ended up working out in a timely manner. At the end of the movie I began questioning the title of the movie, or examining it deeper. I realized that Me Before You could very well have meant Louisa before Will as opposed to the obvious other way around. Though I don’t know I may have been overthinking that one. Regardless I’ll go ahead and rate this movie an 8/10 for pure ability to keep me captivated even through some slow or jumpy times in the movie. Lastly the special features added a little extra to enjoy with Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, and Me Before You: From Pages to Screen.
