The Great Gatsby has a pretty uninspired plot, but the
cinematography is great. It's a good way to find out what the story's all
about, if you aren't familiar with it already.
I've never read The Great Gatsby, and I had no idea what it
was about, so I was a blank slate coming into the movie. I was surprised by how
long it took for Leo to make an appearance. I was like, "he is in this
movie, right?" The opening parts with all the partying were kind of
obnoxious and hard to follow. The camera was all over the place, and everything
seemed a little shaky, a little off. Maybe that had to do with the 3D aspect
(although I didn't watch it in 3D). Everything was kind of exaggerated and
crazy, which was probably the effect they were going for, but I didn't exactly
enjoy it.
I felt bad for Tobey, always getting pushed around by
everyone all the time. I think it would've been interesting to do the party
scenes with the music they actually would've listened to at the time. The rap
music worked to get a "party" feel going, and it never felt out of
place like it did in The Man with the Iron Fists (maybe RZA could take a note
from Gatsby, or maybe rap music just fits partying better than martial arts),
but it did feel like the only modern thing in the movie.
