Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Clevercell Very disappointing...

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

LaDonna Keskes This looks like another vanity vehicle for Ralph Fiennes--he's done Hamlet, he's done Harry Potter, he's done Eugene Onegin--let's do MAGWICH.Since when is gentle Joe Garger ready to go fisticuffs with the man who wants to give Pip a better life? This guy looks like Keith Urban and acts like a thug. And why did they have to paint Pip's sister with such an evil child-abusing brush? And then there's Fiennes' Magwich, who is a scowling slimy fusterer with neither menace nor warmth. He stoops, he shuffles, he fumbles, but he's not convincing. The other characters are completely forgettable nonentities. Mike Newell's direction plunges his characters into almost total darkness, and as such there's nothing for the eye to watch, and very little worth listening to in the script.There's entirely too much brawling and violence--and of course we HAVE to have the money shot in Miss Havisham's burnt-black face--in this movie that provides nothing but a nasty distraction to the story. And, of course, there is another tacked-on happy ending. I thought the movie would at least be as honest as Estella was with Pip.Save your time and watch David Lean's most excellent version. Even with its tacked-on happy ending, it's just a better movie to watch, and Ralph Fiennes can't come within a mile of Finlay Currie, a genuinely frightening visage whose human heart is eventually revealed in a scene that still moves me to tears.It's a star turn for Fiennes, whom I would think had better judgment.

filmobsession94 Before the review starts I must say that it might be a little biased. Coming from another country, before I saw the movie I had never heard of the book (maybe the title once or twice in a different translation) or any of the movie adaptations. For everyone else I suspect it wasn't as interesting as it was to me.The movie is about a boy, Pip, who gets in the possession of some money and coming from a poor background, goes on to become a gentleman in London.The movie is filled with a very well-known cast, e.g. Helena Bonham Carter and Jeremy Irvine, and directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). As seen from previous movies, everyone delivers a remarkable performance, especially Carter with the wounded character of Miss Havisham (there's a good twist around the end involving her). Another great stand out was Holliday Grainger in the role of Estella. I loved her, and will be definitely looking at what projects she chooses in the future. It was a nice surprise when she appeared in Anna Karenina (2012), and although just for a couple of seconds, she played her part there very well too.The story, although I've never heard of it, is a classic. It's handled very well, and the love story too. Two people that were never meant to be together. Even though Estella is trying to push Pip away, Pip always comes back. There is definitely chemistry between the two.The sets and costumes were another high point of the movie. The women's wear in particular worked very well for the time period in which the story is set. The depiction of 1980s London was very graphic and very well done. Nothing seemed CGI, and all the sets looked very realistic.Every movie has a flaw, and nearly every time it's the pace. The movie did slow down around the middle, after Pip arrives in London and settles down. Not much happened.I recommend this to most movie fans looking for a good drama. Fans of the story will probably dig the new adaptation too. Enjoy.Acting - 10/10 Costumes - 10/10 Pace - 8/10 Sets - 10/10Overall - 9/10

gradyharp Director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco, Harry Potter, Love n the Time of Cholera, Mona Lisa Smile, Enchanted April, etc) joins with creative screenwriter David Nicholls (When Did You Last See Your Father?, One Day, Starter for 10, Tess of the D'Urbervilles) and a cast and crew of enormous talent and delivers what in this viewer's opinion is the finest version of GREAT EXPECTATIONS on film. Few explorations of this complicated, dense novel by Charles Dickens manage to make every character wholly credible – no absolute villains or absolute heroes here, just a range of behavior throughout the spectrum that makes every character beautifully defined, making the intricate story wholly comprehensible.The story is soften told that the plot is well known – though never as fully realized as in this beautifully photographed (John Mathieson) and scored (Richard Hartley) version. Pip as a lad (Toby Irvine, Jeremy Irvine's younger brother) is terrified by an encounter with escaped convict Magwitch (Ralph Fiennes) and befriends him – a significant moment in the story. The young orphan Pip is kept by blacksmith Joe Gargery (Jason Flemyng) and his horrid wife (Sally Hawkins) until he is engaged by the strange Miss Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter) in her strangely creepy house to play with her 'daughter' Estella (Helena Barlow). In rather rapid sequence the adult Pip (now Jeremy Irvine) inherits a fortune from an anonymous benefactor, his future seems promising. Estella (now Holliday Grainger) seems bent on a different life than one with the obviously infatuated Pip. Pip is off to London, becomes a wealthy gentleman, still pines for Estella, is supervised by Jaggers (Robbie Coltrane) until a series of secrets surface and the story proceeds to its complex conclusion. The vast cast is populated with some of England's finest actors and they all give sterling performances. The costumes and locations and settings are splendid. And for once the complex Dickens' story makes complete sense. Highly recommended.

phd_travel It's time a big screen faithful color version of Great Expectations was made as an update to the Black & White David Lean classic and supersede the mediocre television adaptations. Forget about the Gwyneth Paltrow nonsense. Comparisons with the previous versions are inevitable. David Lean's version is the most magical with the wide eyed John Mills and the beautiful Jean Simmons and remains the best. The worst was the 2011 BBC version with youthful Gillian Anderson as Ms Havisham and an Estella that wasn't pretty and a Pip that was too pretty. In this version, Ralph Fiennes was intense and watchable if not the most convict like. Pip was well cast. Jeremy Irvine is earnest and pleasant looking while not being too handsome which would have been wrong. Jason Fleyming was bit too dignified and not blue collar enough for blacksmith Joe Gargery. They went very wrong with the women. Helena Bonham was too perky and silly looking. She acted as she does in Tim Burton's movies snapping her dialog out in her clipped way. She made a joke of the role. Some one older like Helen Mirren or Cate Blanchett would have been better. Estella wasn't well cast. The younger Estella was a bit common looking and her ginger hair was jarring. Holiday Grainger was too round faced. While she is pretty from some angles, she wasn't haughty enough. Her looks are more Renaissance - hence the Borgias, than 19th Century.As far as direction, there is a more intense in your face feel which was a bit too crowded sometimes. Some of the action is too much in shadows and crucial dialog rushed. The screenplay is good - faithful and fairly complete. Cinematography is good in the rural areas but scenes of London were too ugly. Overall it's worth a watch despite the miscasting.