I'm rather surprised that this film wasn't produced by Disney. Because it's right up their alley. A young man (Patel) from India travels to England in search of recognition for his work in mathematics. A professor (Irons) takes him under his wing as a mentor in an attempt to show him how to improve his theories. Needless to say, if you're not that into math, this film may not be for you. This ultimately cripples any chance of this film being popular. It shows so much that this man did but it's lost to anyone that doesn't understand what it means. The film just doesn't explain anything. It continues to say that the work is important but never shows why.It tells us to be invested without letting us be. For someone like me that doesn't know how these formulas are vital to math it's hard to be invested. The entire film rests on the work that this man did but is lost among the films own agenda. An agenda that brings religion in at the oddest of times.
The two main characters will be chatting about proofing the formulas than randomly god and faith will be thrown in. The film accidentally implies that you can't be great without God. This is the thing that frustrated me about the film most. I get that the main character was very religious but why does the film feel the need to say something like this?
One character is religious and the other not. And the film continually makes the case that nothing is possible without God. If you're not religious than this other wise well intentioned film is very pretentious. The strange part is, the only openly atheist character is the most interesting part of the film.
Hardy, played by Jeremy Irons, is the best part of the film. Not only is his performance excellent as always but his character is actually interesting. You can tell he has a hard time letting people close to him. He is cold and sometimes overly harsh but you can see that he cares. It's a complex character that I would've loved to see more of. Especially considering how bland the main character is.
I mean the entire film revolves around this young man and yet, all we know about him is he has a family, is religious, and likes math. That is all. Not knowing what kind of a person makes his struggles boring. It's impossible to care about him which makes the majority of this film unbearable to sit through. Not to mention the repulsive cinematography and direction.
Nearly half the film is out of focus. Even when a shot is in focus there is nothing interesting going on to hold your attention. Most of the shots are within dark rooms that are so poorly lit it's hard to tell where the characters are. All they had to do is put one or two more lights up in the room and the shot would have been a hundred times more compelling. But no, no one seemed to care in the slightest.
The film is as harmless as an underdog sports movie and that's the problem. It does it's main character wrong by not being anything different. It continually says that this man changed the world of mathematics but does so in the most by the numbers way. It's predictable, flat, and boring. If it weren't for the great lead performances and Jeremy Irons presence, this film would have been a disaster on every level.
The two main characters will be chatting about proofing the formulas than randomly god and faith will be thrown in. The film accidentally implies that you can't be great without God. This is the thing that frustrated me about the film most. I get that the main character was very religious but why does the film feel the need to say something like this?
One character is religious and the other not. And the film continually makes the case that nothing is possible without God. If you're not religious than this other wise well intentioned film is very pretentious. The strange part is, the only openly atheist character is the most interesting part of the film.
Hardy, played by Jeremy Irons, is the best part of the film. Not only is his performance excellent as always but his character is actually interesting. You can tell he has a hard time letting people close to him. He is cold and sometimes overly harsh but you can see that he cares. It's a complex character that I would've loved to see more of. Especially considering how bland the main character is.
I mean the entire film revolves around this young man and yet, all we know about him is he has a family, is religious, and likes math. That is all. Not knowing what kind of a person makes his struggles boring. It's impossible to care about him which makes the majority of this film unbearable to sit through. Not to mention the repulsive cinematography and direction.
Nearly half the film is out of focus. Even when a shot is in focus there is nothing interesting going on to hold your attention. Most of the shots are within dark rooms that are so poorly lit it's hard to tell where the characters are. All they had to do is put one or two more lights up in the room and the shot would have been a hundred times more compelling. But no, no one seemed to care in the slightest.
The film is as harmless as an underdog sports movie and that's the problem. It does it's main character wrong by not being anything different. It continually says that this man changed the world of mathematics but does so in the most by the numbers way. It's predictable, flat, and boring. If it weren't for the great lead performances and Jeremy Irons presence, this film would have been a disaster on every level.