The Giver

[StarkTheProdigy]

Seeing this tonight. Read the book, great story, but not high expectations for the movie

 

[Octoberist]

I'll say it again. When it comes to indie dramas, the Weinsteins are great. But when they try to corner the market with something more for the populous, like an animated film or something more genre-based, they always fail.

Here, they wanted to capture the Hunger Games/YA crowd, and it looks like they failed. I think the fact that, visually, it looks generic, doesn't help the film at all. I remember reading the book, thinking of 1984. Looking back now, I've often think of North Korea. More concrete slabs, then sleek buildings.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I'll say it again. When it comes to indie dramas, the Weinsteins are great. But when they try to corner the market with something more for the populous, like an animated film or something more genre-based, they always fail.

Here, they wanted to capture the Hunger Games/YA crowd, and it looks like they failed. I think the fact that, visually, it looks generic, doesn't help the film at all. I remember reading the book, thinking of 1984. Looking back now, I've often think of North Korea. More concrete slabs, then sleek buildings.

I could not agree with you more. The Weinsteins have no idea what they are doing when they travel outside of their wheelhouse.

This film did not have to look as generic as it does in the previews (I haven't seen it so I'm only going off of what I've seen). Also I think making the characters 12-14 (and casting actors who were that age) would have differentiated this film from the other YA future set films.

 

[John Locke]

I loved it. I've read the book but all I remembered was the premise. The houses and setting do look generic with the sleek houses but it makes sense when we see the Giver's house. And they did add Streep's character as a very lite President Snow character to appeal to the HG crowd. But the real sell of the film is it's color. Going from the previews you'd think it's black and white and then in color but there are stages. Sometimes it's black and white with a hint of yellow or a hint of red. There is a different color palette for each scene. It's amazing.

 

[DACrowe]

Eh, it was better than Divergent (which is so derivative of this book and Hunger Games that it's a shame that mediocrity is a hit).

The movie is a mess narratively and waters down the themes from the book too much, but I liked the black and white Pleasantville dynamic, and Bridges was good. Not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but better than most YA films that at least captures the idea of the book if not its weight.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I just watched this. I loved it, I don't understand how it got panned by the critics at all. I personally liked it more than THG series, by a long shot. The film adds in a little bit of stuff, like making them older, a love story and a action-y 3rd act, but overall it stayed very faithful to the novel. Wouldn't mind if they adapted the rest of the quartet.

9/10