Hearts in Atlantis
Originally posted a long time ago on Paul’s Reviews Page
I’ll be rating movies on a three zone, 5-star scale. Each movie will be rated
on “Visual Appeal”, “Audio Appeal” and “Story Appeal”. Each of these three
zones can be rated up to 5 stars (or asterisks…. they load faster than
.GIFs)
Hearts in Atlantis
V: ***
A: ***
S: ***
Synopsis: The death of a friend brings photographer Robert Garfield back to the town he left at the age of 11, where he recalls the last summer of his childhood.
Thoughts: Based on a Stephen King story, Hearts In Atlantis touches on matters of trust, faith, goodwill, cruelty and freedom. There is a supernatural element which initially turned me off. Many of Stephen Kings stories are, to some degree or another, rooted in supernatural stuff, and for that reason, I tend to shy away from most of his stuff. Hearts In Atlantis had a sort of Stand By Me quality to it about 50% of the time, and that was what kept me
interested. The “special ability” of the stranger who moves in upstairs turned me off, and since it was so pivotal to the basis of the story it made watching the movie a tad tedious. He appeared wise at first, but in the context of the story, his wisdom lacked credibility until his “special ability” is revealed. That annoyed me.
Taking an unbiased view of the film, it was OK… Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin and Mika Boorem put in admirable performances.
As movies based on Stephen King stories go, Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption are my faves. This was OK, although I’m not in any hurry to see it again.