Great Expectations (2013)
for some violence including disturbing images
Sally Hawkins; Ralph Fiennes; Jeremy Irvine; David Walliams; Jason Flemyng; Helena Bonham Carter; Holliday Grainger; Sophie Rundle; Ewen Bremner; Robbie Coltrane
Posted: Friday, November 8, 2013, 3:01 AM
The reason Great Expectations is adapted so repeatedly for film and TV is the sheer opulence of Charles Dickens' yarn. It's an epic coming-of-age story, with elements of fairy tale, mystery, and twisted romance.
British director Mike Newell ( Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) makes a worthy addition to the canon, one that honors the source while making some small but significant alterations.
Newell gives the story a matte finish, as opposed to David Lean's glossy 1946 classic. He creates a convincing evocation of early Victorian England, particularly the squalid splendor of bustling London, without resorting to extensive CGI effects.
Jeremy Irvine ( War Horse) plays the orphan Pip, for whom wisdom always arrives arm-in-arm with regret. In a felicitous bit of casting, Irvine's younger brother, Toby, plays the adolescent Pip.
Ralph Fiennes plays Magwitch, Pip's unlikely benefactor; Holliday Grainger, the steely Estella; and Robbie Coltrane, the string-pulling lawyer Jaggers. Helena Bonham Carter is fantastic as Miss Havisham, a widow without portfolio, fossilized in her own resentment. Bonham Carter, it becomes apparent, has been rehearsing this character uncredited for years in other movies.
Screenwriter David Nicholls ( Tess of the D'Urbervilles) effectively expands the role of Bentley Drummle (Ben Lloyd-Hughes), Pip's perfidious rival.
More important, Nicholls has created a rich alternative conclusion, one that poignantly sweetens the love story.
It's a novel approach to Great Expectations - sharp and gritty giving way to a sentimental finish - and a satisfying one.
Great Expectations *** (out of four stars)
Directed by Mike Newell. With Jeremy Irvine, Ralph Fiennes, Holliday Grainger, Helena Bonham Carter, and Robbie Coltrane. Distributed by Main Street Films.
Running time: 2 hours, 8 mins.
Parent's guide: PG-13 (violence)
Showing at: Ritz Five and Carmike at the Ritz Center/NJ
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