Great Expectations (2012)

Directed by: Mike Newell
Country: UK / USA

Review: Premises weren’t much encouraging for this remake of Charles Dicken’s novel “Great Expectations”, and in truth, this film didn't provoke nothing more than an expectation far from being great. It wasn’t an easy task for British filmmaker Mike Newell, especially when we have a masterpiece from the past that adapts the same novel with technical perfection and emotional distinctiveness; I’m talking about David Lean’s unforgettable version from 1946. The problems with this movie start with the performances, where Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger didn’t make us feel the fire of love that was supposed to be there to reach our feelings. Fiennes and Bonham Carter fulfilled their roles acceptably but without exuberance. The film fell in such a pace that induced a sense of passivity, becoming dry in terms of emotions. The same happened with the visual aspect and atmosphere created, both very far from the splendor that the book made possible and with which David Lean took advantage with artistry. Newell’s “Great Expectations” is not an exuberant cinematic experience but rather a simplistic, impassive, and visually unattractive work that I cannot recommend, even for those who don’t know anything about this fantastic novel.