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Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The actors did there part really well, but the film at the beginning is a bit confusing...overall it's a dramatic, exciting and emotion film and I recommend it for people who like crying watching fiolms

Even devotees of non-linear story telling movies might have some difficulty with this picture. The very early sequences of the movie tend to leave one confused and disoriented, seeming as if the principal characters have an established relationship to each other. That idea gets quickly negated as the film moves forward, and you're left scratching your head over something you might have just seen that doesn't make sense any more. It goes on like this for a while until the pieces of the puzzle eventually fall into place, by which time you begin to understand that none of the central characters is particularly appealing and the kind of people you want to root for. A good part of that is owed to the exceptional performances of Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro, all of whom demonstrate a wide range of thought and emotion demonstrated by their characters. Naomi Watts in particular delivers an outstanding performance in the role of a widow who's lost not only her husband, but two young daughters as well, in an accident that eventually brings all three figures together in an astonishing climax. The '21 Grams' the movie's title refers to dates all the way back to a pseudo-scientific experiment done in 1901 by a physician named Duncan MacDougall, who was convinced the human soul had weight, and that it could be measured at the time of death by taking the before and after weights of people about to die. Though the experiment was highly flawed, the result the experimenter came up with has lived on as an urban legend of sorts. Upon thoughtful consideration, that really has nothing to do with the premise of this story, as it's thrown into the script one time for matters of association but with no bearing on anything that actually happened in it. Before watching the film, '21 grams' sounded like it could have referred to a quantity of drugs involved in some fatal overdose scenario, but instead it might be the amount of brain power required to concentrate on the film until it's baffling conclusion. Anyone else wondering whether Sean Penn's character shot himself accidentally or on purpose?

Review (1~5)#Content: Script 4 | Acting 5 | Cinematography 5 | Film Editing 5#Visual: Costume Design 3 | Makeup & Hairstyling 4 | Scenic Design 4 | Lighting 5 | Visual Effects n/a#Sound: Score & Soundtracks 5 | Sound Editing & Mixing 4#Overall (1~10): 7

When I first heard the title of this film, I assumed it was something to do with drug dealing or something, in fact the title refers to the amount of body weight supposedly lost at the moment of death, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Amores Perros, Babel, Birdman, The Revenant). Basically the story is told in a non-linear manner, and focuses on three unassociated and well-meaning but flawed characters who are brought together by a tragic car accident that changes their lives. Paul Rivers (BAFTA nominated Sean Penn) is a critically ill mathematician in a loveless marriage to English emigrant Mary (Nymphomaniac's Charlotte Gainsbourg), he has a fatal heart condition, Mary wants him to donate his sperm so she can have a baby after he dies. Cristina Peck (Oscar and BAFTA nominated Naomi Watts) is an upper-class suburban housewife and happily married homemaker with two young daughters, she is a recovering addict with a secret past of drug abuse and alcoholism. Jack Jordan (Oscar and BAFTA nominated Benicio Del Toro) is an ex-convict who has turned to the Christian faith, and in doing so has found strength to recover from drug and alcohol addiction, and he has raised a family. One evening the three are tied together when Jack kills Cristina's husband and children in a hit-and-run accident, her husband's heart is donated to Paul, who begins his recovery, Cristina is devastated and returns to drugs and alcohol, Jack is stricken with guilt and starts using drugs again, and while incarcerated he unsuccessfully attempts to suicide. In the time that follows, Cristina does not press charges against Jack, leaving prison Jack cannot incorporate himself into normal life, and leaves home to work in manual labour, and Paul finds an opportunity to meet Cristina, she is unaware of the heart donation, they form a close and eventually ignite a relationship. Cristina is furious when she finds out the surgery, and forces him, but eventually reconsiders, needing each other they continue their relationship, but his new heart is rejecting the heart transplant, the outlook looks grim, Cristina starts to dwell on the tragic past, and becomes obsessed with exacting revenge on Jack. Paul is goaded by Cristina to murdering Jack, using the same private detective that found Cristina, Paul finds Jack, but holding him at gunpoint he is unable to kill him, Paul tells him to "just disappear", but Jack later returns, still feeling guilty for the heartache he has caused, he wants Paul to kill him, there is a struggle, it ends with Paul collapsing and shooting himself. Jack and Cristina rush Paul to hospital, despite telling he shot Paul, Jack is released by the police, Paul dies, and the conflict between Cristina and Jack stays unresolved, Cristina finds out she is pregnant and prepares for a new baby, and Jack returns to his family. Also starring The Fighter's Melissa Leo as Marianne Jordan, Eddie Marsan as Reverend John, Clea DuVall as Claudia, Danny Huston as Michael, Paul Calderon as Brown and Denis O'Hare as Dr. Rothberg. Penn, Watts and Del Toro are fine acting talents, and each give splendid performances, the story with three lives brought together by an accident is cleverly done, with good themes of faith and redemption, it is unusual to have events before and after the event not playing in chronological order, but it is edited in a way that you can still understand what goes in what order, an interesting drama. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. Very good!