Meet Joe Black DVD > Reviews > A bit of light relief.

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Good cast, well acted, feel good movie
Disadvantages:	a bit long

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

So you`re an aging, self-made millionaire, wanting for nothing , but with a unbeknown to you heart condition. One day a Death comes to visit you and makes a deal which runs like this. As the Reaper only gets to meet souls as they pass from this world to the next, he has decieded to come topside and experience the human experience and he thinks you will make a worthy tour guide. In an exchange for a slightly extended life you must show Death around your life, well can you handle the job? Well thats the proposal that Sir Anthony Hopkins is given at the start of this film.

The film opens with a chance meeting between Brad Pitt, a new in town single man,and Claire Forlani, Anthony Hopkins daughter, and immediately there is a spark of romance in the air. Unfortunately Brad Pitt`s body is taken over by Death as a vehicle for his vacation into the world. Death, in Brad Pitts wrapping and now called Joe Black, begins experiencing our world as if through the eyes of a teenager, and allows the too-decent-to-be-real Hopkins to teach him the ways of the world. His daughter and Death grow closer together and this is used as a vehicle for the exploration of love, relationships and most of all honesty. The interactions between Death and his guide are fantastic, a great pairing of actors, the tension between the two is electric.

As the film moves on we see Death being humanised, and there are some great interactions between him and a dying creole woman on this subject. By the end there is a conflict withinn Death himself between his own greed and doing the right thing, a totally human conundrum.

Its a film that wont appeal to everyone, its not just romantic, its a bit soppy. Its not really a "chick-flick" its got more too it than that, think "Wonderful Life" with too much added sugar. It addresses a few aspects of life by looking a man who is about to leave his behind in a matter of weeks. Its no great piece of philosophy, but it was never meant to be. Its more of a love story with an underlying moral message that the otherway around.

The cast are great, Hopkins is never anything but totally absorbing, Pitt plays a blinder and I would have taken to Forlani (renamed Forlornly?) if she didnt spend half the film on the edge of tears, visualy stunning to watch though she is. The supporting cast do their job well and even though its a long film, it seemed to carry you along without losing interest.

At the end of the day its a feel good movie, everyone gets whats coming to them and everyone resolves their personal sub-plots and ends up where you would like them.

If you want to take your mind off the grind of the rat race and enter a well made, yet ultimately fantasy-film world, with just a little bit to think about afterwards, then you should "Meet Joe Black"