Review: Cyrano

From my point of view, the momentum this film has had prior to its release has been rather intriguing.

Initial buzz was that this was an Oscar contender. Then as the general release date got pushed back, the hype was gradually lowering.

With just one Oscar nomination in the end for its name for costume design, my thoughts for the film prior to seeing was possibly labelling it as 'Oscar-bait'.

That phrase is not always a bad thing for me. The trailers seemed interesting, the cast is very strong and it is going for the musical version of this classical tale. So despite some excitement levels being turned down a notch, I was still up for seeing this latest portrayal. Particularly as it is directed by Joe Wright, a film-maker that I heavily praised the majority of their previous work. Most notably Pride & Prejudice, Darkest Hour and Atonement.

It gets right into the story and honestly doesn't let up for the entire duration. It showcases some impressive costume and production design. Also the tone seemed light and breezy and it has welcoming swashbuckling sequences with a few modernisations in its dialogue that never took me out of the film.

I was certainly feeling the emotional weight of the story up to a point. But there were pieces of the story later on that for me just somewhat lost that gravitas.

Dinklage is great in this throughout. He oozes the required charisma, can do all the songs convincingly and you can believe in the struggles his character was facing. It's not the typical Cyrano look that we all know. But the difference in appearance worked really well I felt. Dinklage just comes off as the coolest guy imaginable.

Haley Bennett continues to show how talented she is. There is a strong screen presence, her singing is soft and confident and her chemistry with Dinklage has enough power to be the films stronghold.

I wasn't really that into the performance of Kelvin Harrison Jnr. I never felt the expected naivety in his character and he just seemed a bit bland for me sadly. It is most likely a personal thing as I have seen Harrison Jnr. give some memorable performances in 'Luce' and 'Waves' for example.

Ben Mendehlson played the antagonist to more of a pantomime style, which you can just about get away with inside this type of story. But other than the borderline over-the-top moments, I wasn't too fussed whenever he was on screen as I never felt any genuine threat from him.

Despite it not being a full-on musical, the songs still need to work for the story and I felt they did. They have a nice flow to them and they fitted to the tone really well. I'm not sure any will do well commercially though. I will have to wait and see on that.

So while I don't feel it was the complete package, I still had a fun time watching this. I like the energy it gives off, there is a lot of confidence coming out of the performances and it is just generally a very pleasant watch.

I think the main reason for not being more than just good was that I couldn't be on board with the chemistry between Dinklage and Harrison Jnr. It never felt authentic to me and just forced because this is how the classic story goes. So I was somewhat underwhelm by the film for that resaon.

I do fear this won't get the box office it deserves. I can see it being loved by the masses. But this is another film that was hit by the pandemic in some form, hence the delayed release date. I do hope I'm wrong though.

Rating: 7/10