Hearts In Atlantis

C+

The first Scott Hicks' film that I saw is Shine, starring Geoffrey Rush in a role that won him an oscar, and the film multitudes of recognition. I didn't like that movie because I felt it was boring. Of course, I've come to appreciate it over time - 4 years and alot of truly boring movies later. It's ironic that Hearts In Atlantis is among those movies that have made me discover and appreciate Shine as daring and heartbreaking, none of the qualities that this movie is.

The movie opens with Bob Garfield (David Morse), an acclaimed photo-journalist, who had just received the news of the death of his boyhood buddy, Sal. Hence he sets out to his childhood home in small-town Connecticut. The film then cuts to a summer in the 1960s, when Bob (now by Anton Yelchin) lives as a 11-year-old with his depressed widowed mother (Hope Davis) and spends his days with his pals, Sal and Carol (Mika Boorem). Then a stranger walks into town, Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins), and becomes the guide that Bobby needs the most. Ted seems to have a gift of sight to see what people cannot. Unfortunately, Ted warns of the coming of "Low Men", who will take him away.

The first half of Hearts In Atlantis is a string of cliche-ish turn of events that we've seen time and time again (the irresponsible mother, the wise old man, the shy boy-girl crushes), and they are not very exciting or interesting. The whole cast, except for Hope Davis, seems to have fallen into a daze, thinking abnormally and talking half-baked lines. Not even Anthony Hopkins could cover the dirt from his dialogues. The movie goes in a slow nostalgic mood that isn't touching, but boring. Things improve come the 2nd half, when the plot starts to move faster with the looming threat of the "Low Men". This is when the characters, which were mostly caricatures before, come to life. There is a feeling of urgency here and the more the characters grow on you, the more you are aware of the threat that awaits.

Anthony Hopkins is still one of the best actors of our age. As I have mentioned before, his performance in the 1st half was perfunctory - so much so that I thought he was a miscast. But he recovered sure enough and recovered lost grounds. By the end of it, you can be sure he was the only person who can portray Brautigan with just the right amount of larger-than-life and human. Hope Davis is adequate for a character that we have seen many a times, but she pulls it off well enough that we are still sympathetic towards Elizabeth. Anton Yelchin is also adequate as an actor his age, though there were times when I was very conscious that he was acting.

Hearts In Atlantis has its bright moments - though none of them brilliantly sparkling. It is adequate entertainment if you have nothing better to do, but expect nothing uplifting or emotional from this movie, since whatever feeling you leave the theater with after seeing this, it will not last long.
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