This was one of the movies that snuck up on me, I’ll be honest.  It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I even knew it existed.  I mean, why didn’t the internet explode when it was announced that Meryl freakin’ Streep  signed up for a young adult book adaptation???  Also, part of the ingtrigue was Jeff Bridges, who seemed to be committed to finding his own movie franchise, and Brenton Thwaites, who is on a roll right now, having released four (four!!!) films this year alone.

Here’s the round-up of Phillip Noyce (Salt)’s adaptation of Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel, The Giver.

Please note that there may be spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Set in a distant future, it seems that man kind has found and perfected the formula for true peace: unwavering equality for all.  In a world where everybody has a specific role to fulfill for the betterment of society, conflict is eradicated because since everybody is given the exact same thing, nobody envies anybody else.  It also helps that people are given daily injections of a serum that helps temper their emotions, so everybody is more compliant to follow the rules.

The story begins during the Community’s annual Ceremony, where the children, upon reaching the age of sixteen, are given their “assignments” – jobs that they are to fulfill for the rest of their lives.  The ceremony is facilitated by the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep – Doubt) and Jonas (Brenton Thwaites – Oculus) is assigned to be the Community’s Receiver of Memories, much to the happiness of his family – Mother (Katie Holmes – Batman Begins), Father (Alexander Skarsgard – Battleship) and little sister Lily (Emma Tremblay – Elysium) – and friends Fiona (Odeya Rush – When the Devil Comes) and Asher (Cameron Monaghan – Vampire Academy).  Jonas works daily with The Giver (Jeff Bridges – True Grit) and discovers the price that mankind has sacrificed to achieve “sameness”.

THE GOOD:

1. Brenton Thwaites.  Again, that American accent is mind-boggling to me.  Also there’s an easy likeability to him that makes it very easy to follow him on screen.  I don’t know how he did it, but he actually looked younger in this movie.
2. Meryl Streep.  Duh.  It was a small role but an effectively creepy one.
3. Jeff Bridges played the character with so much heart, it was impossible to not feel for him when the history about Rosemary is revealed.
4. Odeya Rush is so super pretty!  She reminds me of the first time I saw Keira Knightly in Pirates of the Carribean because, just like Keira (who on some angles look like Natalie Portman and Winona Ryder on others), Odeya looks like Chloe Grace Moretz and Mila Kunis.

THE BAD:

1. The grainy and shaky memory scenes.  I saw this right after I saw Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and I literally felt like hurling during the movie.  There was something very wrong with the way the colored sequences were incorporated into the semi-black and white.
2. Katie Holmes and her “precision of language” bull crap.  Okay, I admit that the character of the Mother was very thinly written but then again so was Father’s and Alexander Skaragard seemed to have no problem humanizing him.  As it was, Katie Holmes could’ve been replaced by a robot and I doubt if anybody would’ve noticed.
3. Taylor Swift!!! The acting wasn’t terrible but the sudden appearance was so jarring and in your face that it was more of a distraction than anything else.
4. That poor infant.  I get that Gabe is the symbol for human innocence and what not, but I don’t think falling off a waterfalls is a survivable thing, you know?
5. The cabin in the woods.  What was that?  Was he just hallucinating?  Or was that real?  If so, does that mean that the community’s not the only group of humans left?

THE UGLY:

1. The ending.  Let’s think about what Jonas has done for a minute.  Okay, he’s brought back the memories to everybody, hooray!  With that he’s also brought back war, strife, not to mention the insurmountable guilt that everybody -especially the nurturers- will feel upon realizing that “releasing” someone is essentially murdering them.  Was it worth it?  In my head when he goes back the community all he’ll find is ruins because everybody’s already killed everybody else.
2. It’s just been done before.  My main beef with this movie was that it really didn’t offer up anything new.  With young adult adaptations springing from every corner, this felt like every other film out there.  I guess Hunger Games just set the bar too high?  Because nothing that came after it is remotely as good, all-star cast or no.

All in all The Giver felt sort of unncessary.  Sure, it offered a very intriguing dilemma but the aftermath and the consequences of how they solved it would’ve made for a more compelling movie than the actual solution.  At this day and age, unfortunately, not even a stellar cast can save a film that doesn’t have anything new to say.

THE VERDICT: 5/10.

*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.