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IMDb Starring: The Dude, Meryl Streep, the ginger brother from Shameless (US), Eric Northman, Katie Holmes The Giver is a novel you should have read in the 6th grade, and decades later they decided to make a movie out of it. The movie does a great job depicting the events of the novel, and doesn't drag. The film does a fine job of transition from scene to scene, not boring the audience which was my #1 fear coming into this movie. Each scene makes it points, develops the story, and moves on. Meryl Streep gives a good performance, although a bit restrained because of the character she portrays. Katie Holmes is apparently 35 years old and plays a "mother" in this movie, and that just makes me feel old. Overall, good job with the plot. Some might say the plot felt too rushed but I thought it was necessary to keep people's interest. Still does a good job getting the message across. If you've read the book, watch the movie. I think you will be pleased. 4/5
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Sep 12, 2014 13:57
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I haven’t read the book and strangely never even heard of it until now which is strange seeing as this is the sort of thing I normally read. So seeing as I just finished watching 10 mins ago here is a fresh response given the above: It’s very well done, performances and effects are great, to me as the last reviewer said he’d heard, it seemed rushed. It’s so obviously a novel adaptation that is screaming for an much longer directors cut with less hollywoody bits and a deeper exploration of the protagonists 'training' and how he sees the world inside the community during it. Soundtrack is great and really suits the vibe. I’d say ... wish it was an hour longer/no 'duh duh duhduh' hollywood bits and upgraded to an 18 and you’ve got yourself a classic. Still worth watching though. 3/5
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Sep 13, 2014 13:02
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I went into The Giver completely blind, not having any inkling of the plot nor of that original material it was based on. I like to think that I went into it with an open mind, and I am generally pretty forgiving of movies with a goofy conceit if they are executed well, but this movie left me completely cold. Parenthetically, this is the only movie I've seen in theaters where multiple people have walked out midway through. The central conflict was handled in such a ham-handed manner and the eventual outcome of the movie telegraphed in such an obvious way that by the first 30 minutes or so the viewer has seen all that the movie had to offer, and was then more than capable of filling in all of the blanks. This culminated with a resolution to the central conflict that left me surprised that it actually worked, as it had been raised almost off-handedly midway through the movie, with no reason to believe that it would work or even that the mechanism by which it was accomplished would exist, beyond an idle "yeah, I guess this could happen". Contrivance at the level displayed in The Giver makes for a bad movie, because it brings along with it the feeling that the plot only resolved because it was a narrative demand of the fact that you're watching a movie that it resolve, rather than as a natural progression of the situation at hand. Performances from the starring adult actors at least that they were taking their roles seriously as they seemed to live the characters, however the younger actors in the film did not have strong enough performances to compensate for the dreadful, dreadful plot. 1/5.
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Sep 16, 2014 23:57
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movie sucks. yet another trash movie for retards based on a young adult novel. its very cool that the novels marketed to those teenagers who are somehow still too stupid to read normal adult literature are now marketed to normal retards too, and its even cooler that they all get turned into films for normal retards to talk about 0
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Oct 8, 2014 04:15
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Just rented this at a local Redbox. I remembered reading and rather enjoying the book in junior high and Guardians of the Galaxy was all checked out at that particular kiosk. Well...at least it didn't cost me anything since the rental was free. You know how much poo poo certain Dr Seuss movie adaptations like The Grinch, The Lorax, and Cat in the Hat have gotten for adding mounds of unnecessary plot elements and changes utterly ruining the spirit of the original work? I had a bad feeling the Giver would suffer the same fate when the film opened up with a protagonist 7 years older than the one in the novel, flanked by future quasi-nemesis best friend and obvious eventual love interest. The tonal shift from the child protagonist in the novel to the Hunger Games young adult pandering 18 year old is massive. Tack on the obligatory shallow romance wasting a good chunk of the film's already rushed 88 minute run and it's a recipe for disaster. The attempted fleshing out of the Chief Elder does little to elevate the character from generic authoritarian villain despite Meryl Streep's best efforts. But beyond the unnecessary changes to basic plot elements, it's all compounded by the film making one of the most egregious offenses of the medium: show don't tell. Jonas' incessant narration turns the somber but hopeful tone of the novel to ham-fisted, eye-rolling pretentiousness turned up to 11. It's like watching Equilibrium minus all the incredible action sequences and Sean Bean finding new and interesting ways of getting killed off onscreen. 1/5 for the cool visuals and Jeff Bridges & Merryl Streep trying desperately to save the film and failing.
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Dec 30, 2014 10:56
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