Starring: Alden Echenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons
Ethan Wate (Echenreich) lives in the small town of Gatlin,
South Carolina; a place where Christian conservatism and conformity reigns. An
aspirational intellectual, Ethan dreams of leaving the town and its
small-minded citizens, until he meets Lena Duchannes (Englert) a descendent of
the town’s founders and herself a non-conformist, made an outcast because she
is believed to be a witch. She prefers the term, “Caster”. Ethan and Lena bond,
however Lena is nearing her sixteenth birthday at which point she will have her
fate of good or evil decided for her, against her will.
Beautiful Creatures is, on the one hand something of a successor
to the likes of Twilight in bringing to the page, and subsequently the screen,
ancient fantasy archetypes in a form more palatable for the tastes of, let’s be
honest, mostly adolescent girls. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that and
in Beautiful Creatures, we have Lena, who seems more assertive and intellectual
than other heroines of her ilk, which is definitely a move in the right
direction. Ethan, meanwhile, is also somewhat more sympathetic than the
standard male love interest of these kinds of fiction; he reads Kurt Vonnegut,
listens to Bob Dylan and watches The Haunting (1963). However, these quirks
quickly fall by the wayside and he becomes just a complete blank slate for ‘tweens’
to drool over. I would advise people to brace themselves for Beautiful
Creatures, maybe read the book beforehand. Once you start this film, you will
fall into a truly bizarre world. Seemingly heavily influenced by Tim Burton,
there are also scenes which are extremely odd. One such example of a table that’s
rotated at break-neck speed during some super-natural argument. That’s not poor
phrasing on my part, the film’s just that nuts. Much of this is because the
film doesn’t take the time to explain anything. The screenplay is, for the most
part, poor with some inane and, at times, laughably bad and the film really has
a one-sided grudge against religion and conservatism that even for those who
don’t agree with those ideals will find the tirades and characterisations appallingly
harsh. The acting isn’t exactly bad, but not stellar with the two most
respected actors in the cast (Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson) both with shaky attempts
at Southern accents. This will probably have broad appeal with its target
audience and has some interesting visuals, but for those of us who don’t “get”
this stuff, it’s a frustrating experience.
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