The reason I give this movie almost 4 stars is because the cast was brilliant. Jude law as Karenin Was amazing. His suppressed frustration and almost intolerable calmness made it in my opinion an amazing performance of that character. Keira Knightley was wonderful as Anna however as with almost every performance she over acts in some scenes. The direction was abominable as always with Joe Wright. Having half of the movie set an a theater was the stupidest thing I have ever seen. I basically have to ignore that part of the movie in order to make it through. I have to say he's probably one of the worst directors I have ever seen. Somebody needs to tell him that when he makes movies it's for the audience and not his own personal artistic indulgence. He did the same thing in pride and prejudice, some of the scenes were absolutely stupid and Keira Knightley overacted in that movie too. But the cast was perfectly picked. So that makes it pretty forgiving. Overall I like this movie a lot and have to overlook the parts of it I don't like. Thankfully about 2/3 of the movie is filmed normally and not in that "theater" setting.
I thought this movie could've been very good if it weren't for the female lead actress. Horrible acting, sloppy hair, black roots, orange lips, black eyebrows, and her cleavage spilling out in every scene. She acted like an imbecilic flighty dimwit half the time and the other half the time she's mumbling her lines well sinking her head into her chest. The other actors and actresses were all very well cast but I could not get past this girl. In my opinion she ruined the movie.
I would have given this five stars if they had not put Emma Watson it. She cannot sing and pretty much cannot act. The rest of the movie is beautifully done and all the actors and actresses have operatic voices She brings the movie down. But over all I was extremely impressed with it. Loved it
