The Great Gatsby
(2012)Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!) adapts F. Scott Fitzgerald’s romantic masterpiece set in New York in the spring of 1922 - an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher and Joel Edgerton. Winner of the 2014 Academy Awards for Best Costume and Production Design.... More
Would-be writer Nick Carraway (Maguire) leaves the Midwest for New York, chasing his own American Dream. He lands next door to mysterious, party-giving millionaire Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin Daisy (Mulligan) and her philandering, blue-blooded husband Tom (Edgerton). Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich and, from within, pens a tale of love, ambition and tragedy.Hide
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Best Production Design and Costume Design at the Academy Awards and BAFTAs 2014
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Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton, Callan McAuliffe, Gemma Ward, Jason Clarke
Written by Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce (based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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The Great Gatsby
BY wobbit superstar
I appreciate that the critics poo poo'd this movie as lacking the drama of the novel. I read the novel and thought the film contained most of the elements and symbolism of the book. The photography was exquisite, and that I thoroughly enjoyed.
BY adamatdramatrain superstar
Worthy more than worthwhile, interesting more than entertaining and dazzling rather than dramatic. Still, good to see Leo stretching his acting chops. With this and his role in Tarantino's 'Django', he's delving into some more complex and not altogether heroic characters. Here's looking forward to 'The Wolf... More of Wall Street.' As for Baz Luhrmann's direction? Thankfully, he's leaning here a lot more towards 'Moulin Rouge' abd 'Romeo + Juliet' than the horrible 'Australia.'
'Gatsby' may not be great - but hats off to Baz for trying and producing this dazzling spectacle that never fails to engage. Looks good in 3D too.Hide
BY emmaslie grader
I felt like I expected so much more from this movie and just didn't quite live up to it! The soundtrack was fantastic and it was worth seeing, I just still left feeling a little bit disappointed...
BY Aidan1 superstar
This was a fantastic movie and great production design and the amazing colours in the film were amazing. Tobey Maguire acting was brilliant he deserves to be nominated for an Oscar and the rest of the cast were awesome as well Leo Di Caprio has always been fantastic since Titanic. 5 stars
BY Mark-Roulston superstar
Luhrmann's unique vision of Gatsby that gets off to such a rocky start that it's tempting to... More write the film off. This is the film we saw in the trailers, where it feels like the director is retreating back to the past success of Moulin Rouge, tragically taking a treasured classic with him. Snatches of story are doled out amidst the chaos of the decadent backdrop, an attempt to disorient us alongside Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) that just doesn't succeed. However just as it reaches insufferable limits, Luhrmann reigns in his most self-indulgent whims and lets F. Scott Fitzgerald take over.
Having a top-notch cast inhabit these iconic roles really brings out the power of the story, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Joel Edgerton in particular shine through Luhrmann's bluster when he lets them, as he thankfully does for the second half of Gatsby. DiCaprio expertly juggles both sides of Jay Gatsby, transforming his enigmatic traits into insecurity and warped ambition, and Edgerton captures the brash entitlement of the vile Tom Buchanan wonderfully.
Luhrmann has never been known for his restraint, yet beyond the difficult opening act he manages to engage through story not style, even saving a stinging indictment of modern excess that hovers just out of reach right until the closing moments. Like the titular character himself, there's much more to Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby below the surface.Hide
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The Press Reviews
Despite DiCaprio's prize performance, purists will fume, but even as lit-crashing razzle-dazzle entertainment Luhrmann's adaptation is a candelabrum too far. Full Review
An energetic, glittering adaptation of the classic Fitzgerald novel, but sacrifices all of the original's subtlely in the process. Full Review
The cast is first-rate, the ambiance and story provide a measure of intoxication and, most importantly, the core thematic concerns pertaining to the American dream, self-reinvention and love lost, regained and lost again are tenaciously addressed. Full Review
Less a conventional movie adaptation than a splashy, trashy opera, a wayward, lavishly theatrical celebration of the emotional and material extravagance that Fitzgerald surveyed with fascinated ambivalence. Full Review
The anachronistic pop-music cues, digitally augmented tracking shots and disco-globe-glittery production design don't re-create the headiness of early-20th-century New York so much as invent a billowy fantasy otherworld in the gauzy vein of Twilight. Full Review
Like Gatsby himself, the movie's a handsome attraction whose dizzying/vulgar wealth is unashamedly flaunted to court favour with bright young things. Full Review
What Luhrmann grasps even less than previous adapters of the tale is that Fitzgerald was, via his surrogate Carraway, offering an eyewitness account of the decline of the American empire, not an invitation to the ball. Full Review
BY Dominic Corry Flicks Writer
Like an ever-so-slightly more literary Transformers sequel, Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby is a sense-shattering storm of lush imagery, beautiful people and other aesthetic wonders. It’s the modern blockbuster as classic book adaptation. I had a ball watching it, but the impact is fleeting and the emotions shallow. Like Transformers.... More
By replacing giant robots and explosions with luxurious mansions, dazzling costumes and immaculate make-up, The Great Gatsby invites an air of superficial respectability that is perhaps reflected in its lead character - a distortion of the American Dream who built up his fortune with ill-gotten gains.
DiCaprio is well-suited (literally!) to the part – he’s finally starting to leave behind the boyishness that has always threatened his believability as a grown-up. As Jay Gatsby, he cuts a fine figure, but the deeply felt obsession at the heart of his character doesn’t totally shine through.
Tobey Maguire acquits himself with dignity as the audience’s somewhat blank proxy and Carey Mulligan oozes sensuality, almost to the point where I was willing to forgive her character’s transgressions. The most impressive performance in the film is given by Aussie Joel Edgerton, wholly convincing as a rich entitled jerk.
But it’s the filmmaking that is the true star here, and while it never stops calling attention to itself, it’s still a wonder to behold - I haven’t felt this drunk on cinematic beauty since Life of Pi.Hide
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