A Romance That Leaves You Wanting More : A Review of The Age of Adaline

My wife and I sat down to watch The Age of Adaline and I thought it started out very strong.  It had

excellent acting, an interesting story,  and a romantic plot.   My wife was hooked.  The story is about Adaline who through some freak accident never ages past the age of 29.  It was well told and really drew you into the story - that is -  until the last 30 minutes.  First of all I will say that Blake Lively did a wonderful job in the role she played.  She really helped the viewer be invested in the character and that is no easy feat in the modern world of movies.  However, unfortunately the plot of the movie didn't stay as strong as the acting talent involved. It was produced and acted very well, but the story seemed to fall short.  I won't be-labor the point,  but here are some issues I had with The Age of Adaline:

1. A Better Written Ending - just when I was emotionally invested in the characters,  the ending was taped on with very little thought of closure for the viewer.   It left me feeling like it didn't give the writers enough time to close up the story in a satisfactory way.   When viewers spend over 60 minutes watching a story like that,  you want something more.

That's it.  I just want some decent script writing.  The Age of Adaline drew me in.  I wanted to root for Adaline, but the way it tied it all up - I was disappointed.  I like romantic movies, and I was hoping this one would be another highly rated one - but unfortunately it failed in the writing department.  The script ends with a small indicator of change.   It didn't show me enough closure with everything else going on.  The viewers deserve more than that.  Hopefully Hollywood will take note.

What type of movie is this? - A Review of The Tourist

Johnny Depp isn't cranking out hits lately,  but this movie came out a while ago and starred Angelina Jolie alongside him.  What was this all about? - I decided to rent it and see if it was as bad as the critics seemed to think.  First off - the acting is good - it was the story that really lacked something.  Angelina plays a spy of sorts who is working with someone mysteriously who tells her to pick a non-suspecting tourist and try to make those who are following her believe it is the man she really intends to make contact with.  So she picks Johnny Depp's character who claims he is a math teacher from America.  He seems like a nice enough guy and although kind of clumsy kind of likes the idea of Ms. Jolie following him around and rescuing him from danger.   However, that plotline didn't save the movie from an overall lackluster journey.  Here is where this movie fell short in my opinion:

1. Like stated before it wasn't the acting - it was the story behind the movie that really was missing something.

The story had potential, but when you are making a movie in the same genre as The Bourne Identity or James Bond series, you have some high expectations to compete with.   Unfortunately, I don't think this movie has the same ingredients that made The Bourne Identity so great and it also tried to blend too many genres of movies like point #4 below elaborates on.

2.  Bad guys who are hard to take seriously. 

Are they meant to be funny and comedic or are they really trying to be threatening?  This movie kind of leaves you guessing and the result is that you aren't rooting that hard for the good guys to get away and come out ahead, because you don't know if the bad guys are going to be so stupid they will end up sabotaging themselves.

3. A twist that feels forced and not that surprising.

A good twist can really keep you guessing throughout the movie and make you feel a sense of surprise and admiration for the writers. This movie's twist (although it does contain one) - doesn't seem to deliver that result.  It feels a bit too forced and not really that surprising.  Compared to the ending/twist of Limitless, which is open to interpretation and almost makes you want to re-watch the movie, this movie doesn't deliver a satisfying one.

4. Not sure what type of movie this is trying to be.

I had heard spy adventure and comedy so I watched it expecting something like that - but after it was all over - I actually thought this movie came off more of a romance??  I prefer adventures, action movies and comedies all to romances - so that definitely took some stars away from my review.  In the end, I'm not positive what type of genre the directors/writers were going for.   I guess if you aim at too many targets you won't hit any of them.

Conclusion: while this movie wasn't terrible, it delivered a movie that left you thinking it could have been so much better.  If that is the best you can say about a movie - I would say this is no more than a 2 star rating out of 5.