Great Expectations Reviews

I would be more than happy to declare a moratorium on film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels. Lord knows that there’s an overabundance to chose from, and many of them don’t bring much new to the material. At least this one brings a series of painterly images that recall the old masters. It makes the roadrunner like pacing easier to swallow as it’s beautiful to stare at.

So are the leads, but they feel a bit hollow. Jeremy Irvine gives Pip more life than the typical interpretation, but it seems like he was cast more for how fetching he looks while staring off in romantic torture. And Holliday Grainger is the cold-hearted, effortlessly sensual Estella. Her icy façade masks complicated and contradictory emotions for Pip, and no one else really, and her final confrontation with Miss Havisham where she screams that she is what she was trained to be is a delight. Grainger understands that there’s a larger game of adult’s egos raging against each other here, and she seems much more comfortable in the role than Irvine in his.

Of course, the real stars of any adaptation of Great Expectations are Miss Havisham, Magwitch, and Jaggers. Ralph Fiennes and Robbie Coltrane are clearly having fun with their tormented and dark characters, but Helena Bonham Carter steals the movie. Granted, Carter playing an eccentric is not a stretch, but she’s clearly having fun walking around with a limp in a decaying bridal gown. The three of them play Dickens like its grand opera or Shakespeare, which it is in a way, and aim to shake the rafters, and they damn near succeed. The film livens up whenever the focus pulls away from the paperback romance and onto them and the complicated web that weaves them together. Once again, I doubt David Lean’s canonized classic has any need to worry about its hallowed placement, but this entertaining enough version is not the worst way to spend two hours. I mean, you do get to watch Carter go full-tilt camp-tastic crazy, and that’s always worth a watch.