Movie Review: Winter’s Tale
I held a great deal of hope for Winter’s Tale, but it ultimately fell flat. It had the makings of greatness, following slightly with the premise of C.S. Lewis’ Screw Tape Letters. Unfortunately, I found myself bored and wondering how this turned out so badly with such a wonderful cast. Most disappointing was Colin Farrell as the lead, Peter Lake. Seems to me he has a way of making many films subpar. You wait for him to deliver an extraordinary response or two during several pivotal scenes but just get a big fat nothing.
Peter Lake is an orphaned thief trying to get free from a mystical demon, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), who works under Lucifer (Will Smith). Peter is able to escape when a flying white horse appears out of nowhere. The combination of fantasy and drama utilized in this film just didn’t work; you were often a bit lost as to exactly what was going on. What realm the film was taking place in at any given moment was time and again a riddle.
Much of the storyline is set in the early 1900s as that is when the magical horse brings Peter to a home that seems appropriate to rob. In the throes of looting the estate, he finds he is not alone after hearing someone playing the piano. Peter immediately falls madly in love with the beautiful, yet sickly Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), the daughter of the wealthy Isaac Penn (William Hurt). By the way, she’s a red head (more on that in a minute). At this point we are given the notion that Peter has some kind of ability that allows him to use a “miracle” when a particular red haired woman is involved. This is what Soames is trying to prevent. Convoluted isn’t it? Unfortunately, we come to learn that Beverly is indeed not the red head Peter is looking for so the film blasts into 2014 and Peter is the same age as he was in the 1900s leaving us to wonder if this is a case of reincarnation. Don’t know, not sure, and just a plain old huh? Oh, and he has amnesia. So he’s wandering the streets of New York trying to figure out why he keeps making chalk drawings on the sidewalk of a redhead looking at the moon. Needless to say, he slowly starts to figure out what’s going on and to find out who the “miracle” is really for.
Colin Farrell in “Winter’s Tale.” Photo by David C. Lee
© 2012 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
An honorable mention goes to Russell Crowe. Because he is Russell Crowe and rarely does anything that completely sucks.
So, if you like fantasies, there really is not enough of it in Winter’s Tale to keep you interested. If you like romance, you will certainly not feel satisfied. However if you are into spending 118 minutes lost, confused, and annoyed you will find Winter’s Tale to be a real winner.
Betsy Cizek
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