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I need to start this off by saying I'm a fan of both Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. If anyone else had been given those roles, I likely wouldn't have even watched. And to be honest, I'm glad I did, but I don't think it's any great masterwork, either. Overall, it has two serious flaws, and that makes it a less than memorable story.
The setting has been done many times, though the story is something slightly different from the norm. Especially the fact that it's an English telling of World War II, rather than an American one.
The flaws are simple, basic storytelling flaws, unfortunately.
The first is that the flow is erratic and choppy. Sometimes jumping forward in huge jumps, other times falling back in time to see a scene from another angle. I understand why it was done, but I don't think the overall effect was done well, and it left the story hard to follow.
The other is that we have two characters we are supposed to feel empathy for, but neither stands out as horribly empathetic. Not that they don't deserve our empathy, but that we have nothing to make us care about in the first place. I think this can be attributed to the choice of storyteller. The little girl chosen to tell the story is completely and totally unsympathetic, and impossible to empathize with as a character. And because she does not seem to care about her characters, and about those around her, neither can we.
James McAvoy did a good job with what he was given, and is the most sympathetic character in the story, but it almost feels a relief when his part of the story ends, because you can see it coming a mile away.
Keira Knightley's character is completely lackluster in most ways, and her reasoning for doing anything is never fully explained. A waste of a great actress on a bad role.
As I have said before, the "main" character of the piece--the young sister Briony seems to have no empathy in her, and the story piece about her having a crush on James's character seems tacked on and entirely unnecessary. I would have liked to either see that bit played up, or excised entirely.
The best bit of this film? The sound of typing that begins the story. It tells you from the get go: "This is all just a story you are about to see." Because it is. The finale seems to negate what little the story has done, and leaves you staring at the screen wondering why you bothered to watch at all.
An interesting period piece, but it will never be a classic.
6/10
