Drama

Science Fiction

The Giver

The Weinstein Company

Asis Productions

Tonik Productions

Walden Media

Yucaipa Films

United States of America

English

Jeff Bridges

Meryl Streep

Brenton Thwaites

Alexander Skarsgård

Katie Holmes

Odeya Rush

Cameron Monaghan

Taylor Swift

Emma Tremblay

Alexander Jillings

James Jillings

Jordan Nicholas Smal

Saige Fernandes

Renate Stuurman

Vanessa Cooke

John Whiteley

Kira Wilkinson

Meganne Young

Thabo Rametsi

Vaughn Lucas

Katharina Damm

Jaime Coue

Jefferson Mays

Phillip Noyce

Neil Koenigsberg

Nikki Silver

Alison Owen

Lois Lowry

Michael Mitnick

Barry Alexander Brown

Venus Kanani

Ralph Winter

Mary Vernieu

Ed Verreaux

Robert B. Weide

Scooter Braun

Janine van Assen

Dylan Sellers

Ross Emery

Marco Beltrami

Harvey Weinstein

Bob Weinstein

Chris Healer

Grant English

I like this genre of film plus with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, I was expecting more.  Bridges and Streep deliver top-shelf performances it's just there is not enough of them in the film.  

There's a scene where Streep and Bridges get into the conversation of whether free will is worth the hurt and pain that comes with it.  It's 10 minutes of acting every one should watch.

The problem is this scene comes near the end of the movie and it's not enough to offset the other 100 minutes of complete blandness.  There isn't this sense of dread or tension in the movie at all.  There really isn't any sense of drama or pace to the movie and what results is a movie that feels like a late night documentary.

I'm tempted to blame the young actors on drawing the audience in but that's completely fair.  The film utilizes the voice of the main character - Jonas - as its narrator.  While this is a quick way to give the film its voice, it also diffuses all the drama out of the film.  We know that the narrator 'makes it out okay' since he's telling the story.  

There are so many themes - free will, destiny, joy, war, hope, emotion vs. rationalism - that completely get overlooked because the narrator is trying to get us through the story instead of just inviting us into the story. As a result, there isn't any tension in the first act to make you care about any of the characters.

Although the cast is good (for the young actors), and excellent for Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, this movie just has no scenario.

The no-emotion dystopia has been covered many times in the literature and movie industry but, here, the story is just too simplistic and gives no satisfaction at all. The subject had a lot more depth in 'A brave new world'. Heck, even Equilibrium had more content. I got through the 90 minutes of the movie and ended up with the sour feeling that the director skipped from the exposition to the conclusion without developing anything.

Really not worth the time.

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The Giver

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Cast

Jeff Bridges

Meryl Streep

Brenton Thwaites

Alexander Skarsgård

Katie Holmes

Odeya Rush

Cameron Monaghan

Taylor Swift

Emma Tremblay

Alexander Jillings

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