ShareThis"Atonement, " set in 1930s Britain and based on the Ian McEwan novel, is the rhapsody of Briony, who spends a lifetime mourning the cruelty and cowardice she showed as a 13-year-old. Briony's overcharged imagination and spite over an unfulfilled crush spur her to falsely hurl a rape accusation at Robbie (James McAvoy), the son of a housekeeper and lover of her older sister, Cecilia. A youthfully foolish decision made in an instant instantly snowballs into a destructive force that wrecks the life of the accused, ruins her sister's prospects for love, and plagues Briony until her dying days.The story no doubt plays better on the page, where, as in Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment," the burning sins of the past can haunt the protagonist -- and the reader -- for hours and days between reading sessions. Lingering guilt just doesn't play well onscreen in a tight 123-minute package.Director Joe Wright, a visual mastermind whose last film was the resplendent 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice," can't extract similar magic from McEwan's work. He torpedoes nuanced performances and stunning imagery with a disjointed narrative that skips in its timeline like Quentin Tarantino on a sugar rush. Wright recycles events from varying perspectives, hoping to add layers of understanding and reinterpretation on top of previous experiences, but the redos aren't necessary because the barely veiled truths are recognizable on the first go-round.The cast is strong in that "Masterpiece Theatre" type of way. The stilted mannerisms in the acting are meant to reflect the inner repression of the era, but they stifle the emotional connections. As Cecilia, Keira Knightley has been buzzed about as one of the leading contenders for a best-actress Oscar, but the hype is unwarranted. Her range in this film flutters from muted infatuation to muted disgust with her life's situation -- both of which require the same facial expression (eyes staring off into space, mouth slightly agape, Knightley's speciality). "Atonement" is a slow watch as it is, but loses even more traction in its flabby middle segment, set amid the chaos of World War II. The pictures are pretty but add up to alarmingly little. A late twist feels more like a cheap trick than a watershed revelation.The regret I felt the most while watching "Atonement" was not Briony's, but my own for having gotten myself stuck in two hours of drudgery.2 stars out of 4Rated: R for disturbing war images, language and some sexuality.Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan.Director: Joe Wright.Family call: Not for kids.Running time: 123 minutes.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Strong cast can't save slow moving 'Atonement'
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