keniwhat

I don't think this movie knows what it wants to be. Despite one or two laughs provided by Richard E. Grant the film delivers little else. One or two scenes might be there to shock or they might be there as clues for what ultimately ensues. But it doesn't matter because the main thing missing for all of the characters is motivation. A comment of a mother on her daughter or the daughter on her brother hardly makes up for showing the character in more depth to get a handle on them. And as for the main character, no motivation at all, so you are left at the end with, what was all that nonsense about?

An intriguing character, an historic time, a chance to show what made the man whose name the film bears, squandered on an overbearing visual and audio production. Loud, building, ever-present music, probably to make up for the lack of dramatic dialogue in the script. No family back-story, none of the quirks of his character as a young man, just a series of short episodes in labs while music plays incessantly and too loudly. Jumping back and forth in time, to create a sense of mystery to demonstrate a great man taken down by pettiness. You can't make this movie without hitting some high notes and the test scene brilliant, and the sense of moral regret is well delivered. But the overall production, especially the editing, and the focus on the 'trial' and the decision to omit the early back-story years, creates a gap that is never quite filled, despite the brilliance of Cillian Murphy portraying a man struggling with the impact of what he has unleashed on the world, not to mention a host of fabulous cameos.