Great Expectations - review.

MAY CONTAIN SOME MILD SPOILERS.

Anticlimax.. Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger as Pip and Estella.

Not twelve months ago, did I see a terrific BBC adaptation of Dicken's famous novel. Gillian Anderson took the role as ghostly spinster Miss Havisham whilst Douglas Booth portrayed the older Pip. This was undoubtedly the best version that's ever been churned out of the lengthy book, the best since the David Lean edition last century. This interpretation from Mike Newell and David Nicholls is an odd affair that really stretches between likeness and anger, anger at the fact that such a modern form of the book with an all-star cast has failed in its challenge. I'm slap bang in the middle, unsure whether to love it or hate it. The real problem is Helena Bonham Carter's foul portrayal of the mysterious and old (Bonham Carter's age is 46 whilst Dickens intended a more late fifties, early sixties look) Miss Havisham. Her death scene is disgusting, crude, poorly executed and nightmarish, I was physically distraught in the cinema thanks to this ridiculous chapter. Carter also acts the pantomime baddie, remaining in the shadows giving no effort to do anything. Known for her weird gothic mad-haired gimmick, Helena Bonham Carter tones this down completely and her casting as Miss Havisham was a long-awaited waste.
War Horse's Jeremy Irvine ups his game a little as gentlemanly Pip, sent to London to live the life of a dandy after a mysterious benefactor, communicated to him by Robbie Coltrane's cold-hearted Jaggers. Ralph Fiennes appeared as the likeable Gareth Mallory in the recent James Bond movie, Skyfall and now gives an easy performance as Magwitch. Holliday Grainger forces all of Estella's hostility to men, after being raised by Miss Havisham, perfectly into herself meaning her performance is perfect for the role. David Walliams however is excellant as the pride-hungry Uncle Pumblechook, a role he quite rightly deserves.
I went into Great Expectations with.. great expectations and I was sorely disappointed, its good-looking, well-acted in most cases but still lacks some adventurism or energy that leaves a gaping hole. 

3/5