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Yar, you be here: 21 Grams > Customer Reviews
21 Grams Customer Reviews (61 - 63 of 78 Reviews)
Another hit for Penn
Sean Penn is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood, and any film of his is a great one. The plot was great, jumped around a timeline without warning, but not impossible to follow. Great story of how lives can become entwined amidst tragedy. Not the absolute best film of the year, but close.
A Dark & Painful Drama - Not For The Faint Of Heart!
"21 Grams" is the grim story of three strangers whose lives are intertwined by a fatal car crash. Christina Peck, (Naomi Watts), a young wife and mother of two small daughters, loses her entire family in a horrific car accident. Before her marriage, she was apparently a "hardy partyer," and a former drug addict. Unable to cope with her enormous grief, she isolates herself and begins using again, adding alcohol to the drug mix. Jack Jordan, (Benicio Del Toro), a reformed ex-con with a wife and two children of his own, drove the speeding pickup truck that struck and killed Christina's family. He is a Born Again Christian who will go through his own spiritual hell following the tragedy. Melissa Leo gives an outstanding performance as Jack's long suffering, loyal wife. At one point she informs her husband that, "Life has to go on, with or without God." Sean Penn plays Paul Rivers, a 40ish mathematics professor dying of heart disease. If he doesn't receive a transplant within a month or so he will die. His marriage has been on the skids for some time but his British wife Mary, (Charlotte Gainsbourg), returns to him, ostensibly to encourage him to follow medical treatment until a heart becomes available. It soon becomes clear, however, that she has come back to have Paul sire a child before he dies. He finally receives a heart and Christina's husband is the donor.To call this film intense is an understatement. I experienced some serious emotional pain during the 125 minute running time and found myself questioning why I was putting myself through such an ordeal. And make no mistake, much of this is extremely painful material, from the moment one sees Penn wheezing for breath while stealing what could be a final smoke, to watching Watts learn that her family is no more, while being advised that it is best not to view the remains, through experiencing Del Toro's tormenting doubts about whether he betrayed Christ or Christ betrayed him, as he burns the tattooed cross off his arm. This is not easy entertainment, nor is it a film for those with a low pain threshold. Yet Mexican writer/director team Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu, (Amores Perros), have put together an extremely powerful, compelling, character-driven tale and the performances are brilliant, as one would expect from such a superb ensemble cast. The film's sequence is not in chronological order, but this lack of linear intent did not disturb me at all. I adjusted fairly easily to the movie's collage-like rhythms. It was the constant darkness and suffering that wore me down. The ending did not disappoint me as it did some others. I actually found it to be somewhat poetic, but I won't give it away. This is worth seeing for the acting alone - but only for the strong of heart!
JANA
FINE FILM
Strange tale about interwoven lives surrounding a heart transplant recipient works very well despite a super tragic incident which serves as the movie's centerpiece and garners the audience's attention and sympathy. A woman's family is killed while crossing a street by a drunk driver and she slowly and methodically seeks revenge with the help of her dead husband's heart transplant recipient. Sounds preposterous but it unfolds believably and becomes a genuine think piece that never resorts to heart bludgeoning measures, given the very emotional circumstances involved.
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