The Lovely Bones

I think I've almost hit that point with Peter Jackson as a filmmaker. It's that point where you say, "You've got something else in you right?"

Here's the thing: for me, he has 3 great movies (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I can argue is really 1 movie) and 1 good movie (King Kong). Other than that, as a director, he really does not have another good film on his resume. Seriously, look at his IMDB profile sometime and tell me his other classics. Unless you're part of that special minority that thinks The Frighteners is underrated, he doesn't have another solid film on the books.

I say this because his latest entry, The Lovely Bones (TLB), is pretty disappointing. I'm not saying I had high hopes for this one because I had heard it wasn't great, but I was at least hoping that he, along with his frequent collaborators Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, would at least deliver an interesting film. Unfortunately, he didn't even do that.

Unfortunately, TLB is not interesting in any capacity save one: Stanley Tucci's fantastic performance as the serial killer next door George Harvey. He is almost unrecognizable, as he has a wig, glasses, extra weight, and an accent borrowed from some undefined midwest region. He was nominated for an Oscar for this movie with good reason. I am constantly amazed at how seamlessly he gets in and out of characters; if you don't believe me, go see Julie and Julia and then this film and tell me if you think there's someone as chameleon-like as him.

Other than that, there's not much to enjoy. The plot isn't horrible, but it ain't great: a 14 year old girl named Susie is murdered in 1973. She then spends most of the film in the "In-Between world," which is between Heaven and Earth. In this world she is able to interact with the other victims of her killer and see how her death has affected her loved ones. She can even sometimes touch them with her presence.

This is consistently intercut with how her family has dealt with her loss, which is to say not well. Her dad Jack, played by Mark Wahlberg, becomes obsessed with helping the detective Len (Michael Imperioli) catch Susie's killer. Her mom becomes so distraught she has to leave for a while, which prompts Jack to bring her mom Lynn (played with some wit by Susan Sarandon) to help take care of their other two kids. Daughter Lindsey becomes convinced that creepy George did it and tries to get evidence that he did. She ends up convincing Jack that he's the killer too, so Jack tries to go all vigilante on him, which backfires horribly.

Meanwhile George is planning his next killing: Lindsey, but she finally does find some evidence to connect him to the crime, which means he's gotta bail. But not before Susie has a psychic connection with the guy she was in love with before her murder. Yeah, I know - where did all of this craziness come from?

And that's ultimately my main problem with TLB, besides the visuals not being very good (which surprises me. He did LOTR & Kong - how could the visuals not be on point?). This is supposed to be an emotional experience, but that emotion gets drowned by a tedium and darkness that is not enjoyable to watch. My bones didn't feel so lovely when the credits rolled.

I just hope Jackson can find another story that brings real human drama and touches our hearts the way he has before - if you count dwarfs, elves, and a huge ape as part of the "human" category.