Review by Nathan Chandler for The Mungles on Movies

Copyright 2007 Mungleshow Productions. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

  Following his acclaimed 2005 Pride & Prejudice, Wright returns to the period drama genre with a British love story gone awry. Spanning several years set in the 1930's, Atonement focuses on the romance between high-class socialite Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and her family's garden boy Robbie (James McAvoy). After Cecilia's imaganitive13-year old sister misinterprets the relationship the two lovers have, her lack of judgment taints a crime whose repercussions hang over all their heads into the grief-stricken World War II.

Without giving away too much of the story, Atonement is basically broken into two parts, a cause and an effect. The problem the movie has is that the events that take place in the first half don't correlate with the themes presented in the second. Wright takes characters that are unlikable, puts them in a love story full of plot holes, and then tries to compare their grief to the atrocities of World War II. I just did not buy it, nor was interested.

  Although the cinematography is beautiful, Wright gets caught up in being artsy for artsy sake. You start paying attention more to how something was shot versus what the shot is trying to tell you. Keira Knightley and James McAvoy do okay here, but I felt as if Wright was holding them back from humanizing the characters a bit more. Instead of great performances, they come off as puppets in a glorified soap opera. As the teenager who lets her creativity run a little bit too wild, Saoirse Ronan perfectly captures the innocence and determination of a young child trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave, who play her older incarnations, crush all the groundwork that she builds up for the character.

  Atonement definitely falls into the romance category, but families need to be cautious of the sexual themes and content in the film. Like its quick visuals of war injuries, they aren't widespread or unjustified, but certainly are vivid enough to earn an R rating. I do feel like I missed the boat on this one because it's getting a lot of Oscar hype right now, but I feel like it might be this decade's English Patient. It has all the elements of a potentially great film and although it's not the worst movie ever to come out, I was sure checking my watch a lot throughout. I never got caught up in the film and by the end I had no sense of regret that the film's title calls for. I give Atonement 2 out of 5 secret letters.

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Nathan Chandler is a video producer and editor who lives in the heart of Dallas. He has a knack for making awesome mix CDs and has a vast knowledge for movie trivia. When Nathan isn't writing or producing short films on the side, he is wishing he was on Survivor, rooting for the Cowboys, or making sweet tea runs to Chick-fil-a. You can reach Nathan at his blog. Nathan also co-hosts The Film Alcove Podcast. Check it out!