'The Giver’ is an unusual movie at first glance, based off a novel and presented in black and white, parts of it, ‘The Giver’ may be one of those snore fest induced films at first glance, but surprisingly was a lot more entertaining then I’d first had labelled it.

 

Don’t judge a movie by its trailers, until you have seen it. A true and valid sentence, with films like this year's ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ also being better than what the studios market it.

 

‘The Giver’ is about a futuristic world, living at the top of this mountain, where everyone lives together in little communities. The world is colourless, black and white per say, and bland. Jonas and his friends Asher and Fiona are moving on from childhood to adulthood, with jobs given to them from a higher authority, that being the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep). Jonas becomes the Receiver of Memory, and is tutored by the Giver (Jeff Bridges). With each new memory, Jonas learns the truth of the world he lives in as colours start emerging.

 

To be honest, the more I watched this film, the more I was intrigued with its unique premise, and the world being an interesting concept of living with no fears. While I commend with the film’s world building and a nicely assembled set-up, the film does stumble among its third act, which I was told the novel also doesn’t have a clear vision, so it could just well be the film suffering from the novel’s layout of story.

 

But still, two thirds of this film is entertaining and interesting enough for the film’s sloppy third act. The film does have some cringe-worthy dialogue present, but the concept and idea of this world is more than enough in the forefront, than the film’s ‘Twilight’-y dialogue. That said, this film does surprise and breaks some forms of clichés from other young adult films like ‘Twilight’ and ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’.

 

‘The Giver’ could have been better, but the message does still come across and I liked what the filmmakers were trying to do and succeed, as I did enjoy most of this film’s world, acting and visuals to keep me enough entertained by the film’s interesting concept.

 

Score: 6.2/10