Dorena G.

Adore, adore, adore this film. I have watched it numerous times. Suffice to say, I am a Jane Austen fan (how can one not be?) and had seen the 1996 Emma film starring Gwyneth Paltrow numerous times as well. This newer version of the romantic period comedy is true to the original story, but modernizes it as well. The cinematography is lovely, the costumes capture the characters and provide the right contrast of color to distract the eye, the actors play their parts to delightful perfection (Bill Nighy as the fatherly Mr. Woodhouse is a delight and Anya Taylor-Joy captures Emma's vanity, vulnerabilities, and naivety to perfection). The actors are a delight to watch. Autumn de Wilde cast many relatively unknown actors to most Americans exhibiting their immense talent. The soundtrack - intermixed with folk songs, opera and classical music. The soundtrack is important to any film, This one captures the emotions and feelings of all the film's scenes precisely. This film is a refreshing perspective on a 200+ year old story. It is as if it has never been told before. I plan to watch this film many more times and look forward to future Autumn de Wilde films.

This film could have been so much more. It had the potential to expand on it's characters and the plot, but what did it for me was the fact that nearly all the primary characters were killed off. The reasons for their deaths are ludicrous. Due to this, it was difficult to become attached to the film and it's plot. The ending left it wide open for a sequel, but I doubt that is in the works. The acting was good (not necessarily superb) and the fantasy of it was reminiscent of Harry Potter, LOTR and The Hobbit fandoms. If they do a sequel, I hope they create richer characters so that the fans can become invested in them, and to create a storyline and plot that makes sense. As another reviewer stated, the actor who portrayed Medivh carried the film.

Just watched this film and really liked it. I will say for those who have never seen the original trilogy that you would certainly be lost somewhat. The original films were groundbreaking in the film industry. They were also somewhat complicated in their plot. To fully understand the extension, this film has to those films, I would recommend watching the original trilogy first. There are numerous flashbacks by the main characters. I found it interesting to see how they were able to recreate the plot and the main characters after. It seems certain there would be no extension of the film series after the last film. What could have been clearer was a little more discussion on the foundation of the plot for those who had not seen any of the other films. There was a lot of complicated dialogue in the beginning. Even I was a bit lost. However, seeing neo and Trinity together was well worth everything and took me back 20 years.

I enjoyed watching this film as I particularly enjoy sci-fi films. There were some poignant moments, particularly between George Clooney and the little actress who played Iris. What I did not like about the film was the lack of dialogue and explanation about the catastrophic event on Earth. It would have been nice to have had that more robustly filled out. There were some predictable moments in the film, but I enjoyed the twist at the end. However, I think that there was some excellent acting overall in the film and I would watch it again.