This is going to be a very difficult review to write. Having read the book and seen this adaptation of it, I am torn between various pros and cons that, in the end, could be summed up in a question: had I not read the book, would I have found this movie interesting?Probably not.
Good books differ from great books in the amount of time you need to read them. TTSS could be finished in 2 days. It is engaging, intriguing, written almost effortlessly...in a nutshell, a page-turner.
Movie had one of the best trailers I've seen of late but it also had an all-star cast which, in most cases, does not bode well. I suppose it's one of those famous faces curse that most movies succumb to. Casting was impeccable: Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Toby Jones...a true, BBC-esque legacy, one might add.
However, lest I repeat myself - which I, unfortunatelly must - if you haven't read the book, you would be completely and totally lost in this movie's plot. It was quite confusing from the start, with its flashbacks and not quite clear connections and the insinuations that a regular moviegoer could not possibly follow.
To make matters worse, it was slow. Excrutiatingly so. I am not sure wether this was due to the director or the script writers but they have succeeded in making this as boring as the book is not. Therefore, here's the explanation for its box office fail.
If you are patient, dedicated and a fan of any of the above mentioned names (and you should be), watch this one.
7 out of 10.
