Deep inside every piece of rock, inside every slab of wood, lies a masterpiece waiting to be whittled out and uncovered. Sometimes, more often than many realize, a film maker doesn’t quite know when they have either cut off too much or not chiseled away at that piece of rock until their work has been polished to perfection. Such is the case for Peter Jackson and THE LOVELY BONES, an incredible and moving story of a family’s loss and the aftermath that is mired by tedious and lackluster moments of unnecessary computer imagery.
At the center of THE LOVELY BONES is the Salmon family, father Jack, played by Mark Wahlberg; mother Abigail, played by Rachel Weisz; two daughters, Lindsey, played by Rose McIver, and Susie, played by Saoirse Ronan; and a son, Buckley, played by Christian Thomas Ashdale. Susan Sarandon steps in once in awhile as Grandmother Lynn, as well.
The gist of the story comes when Susie, fourteen years old and curious of the world, is viciously murdered. Her spirit moves on to the afterlife, made up of vibrant fields and fantastical imagery. But her afterlife is not peaceful, as her killer, played by Stanley Tucci, goes about his life, biding his time until his thirst for murder rears its ugly head again. Susie seeks vengeance, and her family, who is having a difficult time of their own coping with the loss, seeks justice.
It is unfortunate that Alice Sebold’s original novel was so full of Susie’s viewpoint, that the heaven laid out in the novel was so detailed and meticulous. Having that much weight on this aspect throughout the novel meant this couldn’t have been excised from the film, and that would have made this film head and shoulders above what it is. Susie’s aferlife in THE LOVELY BONES is not weighty, it’s not powerful or engaging, and it sure isn’t imperative to what is going on in the rest of the story. It looks beautiful, don’t get me wrong, and the creativeness of it all almost outweighs how poorly executed it is. Almost. This is Weta Digital we are talking about, and the people there have done far better work than this.
Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the fantastical moments of the film, the cutting back to the real world and the real, emotional struggle Susie’s family is going through makes those moments feel even more afterthought than afterlife. In fact, much of the real world, much of the dichotomy between the family coping and the neighbor just down the street who may or may not be the killer is incredibly engaging. There are moments of sheer power coming from the actors and the situations playing out. Really the most powerful scenes are the one here and there where Susie’s presence has a physical effect on our world, as when Wahlberg’s Jack sets a candle in front of a window, and the reflection of the flame begins dancing about while the flame itself sits perfectly still. It’s a minute scene, but the small bit of special effects used within it are far more moving than seeing giant ships in giant glass bottles being smashed on rocks.
The notable performances in THE LOVELY BONES don’t hurt the family drama half of the film, either, with Weisz, Sarandon, and the children doing their job satisfactorily. Michael Imperioli shows up here and there as the lead investigator on Susie’s murder, and he also gives a slightly more than adequate performance. Much has been touted about the work Tucci does here. He is, to note, better than everyone else in the film. He makes you smirk and puts you slightly at ease even in the scenes where you know he is about to do something horrendous. His performance here is the best in this film, but it’s far from the best of the year. Saoirse Ronan gives her performance her all. Unfortunately, she just doesn’t have the talent just yet to convince us she is actually seeing all of these exquisite images. Most of her scenes, I’m sure, were shot on a green screen sound stage, and it’s regrettable that that is exactly what her performance feels like.
Someone else who just doesn’t seem to fit in here is Wahlberg, who is fine as an actor in certain roles. However, he just doesn’t have what it takes to cut it in a drama such as this. Much of his delivery is given with the same resonant pitch, as if this multi-dimensional character just wanted to keep it simple at one. A lot was said in the early development stages of THE LOVELY BONES about Ryan Gosling and why he stepped away from this role. Gosling has the capabilities to pull off this role of a father obsessed with his daughter’s murder, a man who pushes everyone else in his family aside to dwell on the one who was lost. You’ll find it difficult knowing he came this close to filling this role not to dwell on the hole he left behind here.
Peter Jackson has become, thanks to LORD OF THE RINGS and KING KONG, so ingrained in people’s minds as this director who creates fantastical worlds, it may have seemed like a step backwards to make a family drama with minimal effects. That step backward would have made all the difference in the world for THE LOVELY BONES, a film that could have been so much more if it has just used so much less. That piece of rock that I mentioned in the opening still has quite a bit left on it to break away before the true work of fabulous art emerges, and, aside from a few lackluster performances, that is precisely what we would have had with THE LOVELY BONES without the nuisance of afterlife. Sometimes it’s better just to put thoughts of the afterlife in the closet and deal with the real world. Peter Jackson should have taken this advice to heart.
