MOVIE

STARS : Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchim, Hope Davis, Mika Boorem and David Morse.

Hearts In Atlantis is the latest film based on a short story by Stephen King and as most people know, King adaptions are not usually all that great and this is no exception.

The story revolves around Bobby Garfield (Yelchim) and his relationship with his friend Carol and the enigmatic Ted Braughtigan (Hopkins), who lives in the upstairs room of his single mothers house.

Bobby lives with his mom (Davis) who is a widower struggling to make end meets and who barely has any time for her son. Bobby also longs for a father figure and after a inauspicious start, Ted starts to fufil this role. But Ted is not what he seems because he has the ability to see things before they happen and to know things that no-one could know.

As Bobby and Ted spend more time together they build a relationship built on trust and respect and because Bobby’s mum isn’t a part of it, she becomes jealous placing all on a path of inevitable destruction that haunts Bobby for the rest of his life.

Scott Hicks, director of Shine and Snow Falling On Cedars, is a very good filmmaker who continually gets bogged down in semantics and loses track of the story he is delivering. Anthony Hopkins tries had but doesn’t have much to work with due to a lacklustre plot. Hopkins is well supported by Anton Yelchim but as the film just doesn’t EXPLAIN enough about what wwe have witnessed.

The best way way to describe This film is that it is about a young boys journey from childhood to manhood over the course of a summer back in the 1960’s with a touch of intrigue thrown in.

Watch It If You Enjoyed : Phenomenon

Verdict : A letdown

THE EXTRAS

* Remembering Hearts in Atlantis (30 mins): In what is a different sort of featurette, here we have Director Scott Hicks interviewing Anthony Hopkins. The two discuss a wide range of topics but obviously the main discussion is about the movie. Interesting.

* Stills Gallery : A Collection of about 25 photos.

* Theatrical Trailer : This is an impressive trailer that makes the movie out to be a lot better tahn it is. Someone in editing got a big pay rise after this.

CONCLUSION

This is a plodding film that never really seems to get out of neutral. Just when you think things are about to happen it retreats back into it’s shell and is ever reluctant to come out again. Sure, the film is mainly about the relationship between Ted and Bobby however the side premise of the psychic abilities should have been explore in greater detail.

With thanks to Village Roadshow, Hearts In Atlantis is available to buy or rent now