The Great Gatsby (2013)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Amitabh Bachchan, and Jason Clarke

Director: Baz Luhrman

In a thrilling sequence of events, The Great Gatsby brings to life one of the best known novels of all time.

Luhrmann uses many familiar faces in this modern take on The Great Gatsby, the most well known of which being Titanic’s Leonardo DiCaprio and Spider Man’s Tobey Maguire. The majority of the characters suited their roles perfectly: Carey Mulligan made a darling Daisy, and DiCaprio a dashing Gatsby. Joel Edgerton was also perfectly suited for the role of Tom, from his broad and athletic bod to his brisk and brutal demeanor. Maguire, of course, played a lovely Nick–he was wonderfully awkward as the constant third wheel.

The one actor that gave this reviewer pause was Bachchan, who played Meyer Wolfshiem. To anyone who hasn’t had the delight of reading The Great Gatsby, the choice in character might seem fine. Someone who has read the book might be a little bit frustrated that a man who is described in the book as “a small flat-nosed Jew” is played by a large, intimidating Indian actor. However, Bachchan’s acting was definitely up to par, so it is pretty much only his physical characteristics that could cause some annoyance.

The party scenes in The Great Gatsby are especially vibrant in color and detail. While the costumes and the type of dances performed stay generally true to the context opf the 1920s, the soundtrack does not. At many times throughout the movie this reviewer was drawn out of the story by the odd use of certain modern day musical tracks. The parties also had a dizzying effect, as the cameras were almost constantly swinging around, as though to capture as much of the action as possible.

However, the movement of the cameras did make the scene come to life, as in real life a viewer would probably be trying to look at everything all at once anyway. Lastly, Gatsby’s parties especially made the viewer think about the extravagance of the upper class, which perfectly illustrated Fitzgerald’s opinion in regards to certain members of the elite.

While the movie started off somewhat slowly, it definitely began to pick up about halfway through when Tom found out about Daisy’s relationship with Gatsby. Without going into too much detail, the way Luhrmann depicted all of the horrible events that occurred as the story drew to a close were especially detailed, which made the latter half of the movie all the more riveting.

Overall, despite a few minor discrepancies, the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby illustrates beautiful and timeless love story that is definitely worth a few hours of your time.