Firstly, I had to search far and wide for a screening of this film. Luckily there were a few times that I was able to travel to. But it was at a cinema I have never been to.
My initial reaction to this was my surprise to see that this was a true story. It is a story that I was not aware of and I think many others will feel the same way.
As for the film as a whole, I enjoyed it but I was struggling to be overwhelmed by it. I don't know why, but it had the feeling of a TV movie at times. That is not a good remark to make. It is really hard to describe the reasoning for my analogy. The whole structure just felt too basic in my opinion for a story that was really interesting. Everything just felt expected and you just knew where everything was going and how it's going to end. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood to fully appreciate it. But I rarely change my mind on the overall felling of a film on a first viewing. All of that does not mean that I do not like it. I am just struggling to see where this has got many people thinking that this is a masterpiece. For me it is an interesting story told as simply as possible.
The performances as a whole were good. Jeremy Irons is by far the biggest stand-out as the main supporting role. His character was really well developed and I felt comfort and almost sanctuary whenever he was on screen. Dev Patel as the lead was pretty solid and kept the film moving along nicely. Also, his screen-partnership with Irons is great to watch and it is well developed especially when both of their characters have polarizing beliefs and speak the same language in the form of mathematics.
Not many minor roles that are worth mentioning. But it was nice to see Toby Jones and Stephen Fry on screen as they always play their roles well.
Despite me not feeling that the good stuff is strong enough, I don't have many massive negatives to mention. There was one moment where I was confused on the time that has passed in the film as there is a scene containing an object that was getting me thinking that we jumped to World War II despite the film beginning in 1920. Thankfully after a little research afterwards, it turns this particular object was used in World War I and therefore made sense as to why it was happening.
Even though a lot of my review sounds negative, I did enjoy this film. I just think that it could have been so much better. I liked the story, I knew nothing about it and I am glad that it is being brought onto the big screen.
It is definitely a crowd pleasing film that will play to the widest audience possible which you associate with a lot of popular Oscar films. However, I felt that the people making this did not do the story justice as it looked like the script could have been more challenging especially it involves mathematics, equations and all sorts. They explain the high-level maths well in the film. But only in very small doses.
It is a shame that this is not getting enough promotion as I think this will please many cinema-goers and get the box office that it deserves.
Rating: 7/10
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