MOVIE REVIEW : Slumdog Millionaire

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto


PLOT

The story of the life of an impoverished Indian teen Jamal Malik, who becomes a contestant on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be A Millionaire?", wins, and is then suspected of cheating.

WHAT I THOUGHT

Shouldn't really need any introduction to this film. It's the talk of the times at the moment. A huge comeback for Danny Boyle (even though I loved Sunshine), and a huge breakthrough for Skins star Dev Patel.

I thought it was an excellent film. Superbly made with great performances all around. I just didn't think it was as good as everyone is making it out to be.

Don't get me wrong, the film is full of many moments that I loved. Some of the stuff with the youngest children was fantastic. I suppose it all got a little heavy for me in the middle. It's well shot, with good (though once again - not amazing) music. I didn't like the subtitles system, I understand that Boyle chose not to have them at the bottom of the screen, and in different colours... but I sometimes didn't catch them because of this.

I can't stress how good all the performances are though. I liked Dev Patel, though I thought he was slightly underused. If again, as I said earlier, I thought the youngest children storyline was my favourite, and for a group of what looked like 6 year or so year olds... they were fantastic.

And of course, the ending is as feel good as everyone says it is. It's just a heavy film to get through beforehand. I did love a montage at the end, when it all starts to finish, and you get flashes of his life that you'd just been watching... and at that point I realised I had been on a good journey with this character, and liked it.

So, my conclusion is that you should definately see this film. I understand why many people love it so much, just don't go into it expecting the best film you've ever seen.

BEST MOMENT

Quite a few great moments to choose from. The ending seems a little too obvious. So I guess I'll say my favourite moment was the bit where the two brothers first meet Latika in the rain.

MY RATING

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