Ralph Fiennes plays the character beautifully and carries the movie for the first half. Alas, not enough to make it interesting.
While the start is promising and portrays Basil's (Ralph Fiennes) passion and great work, halfway through the movie the storyline just switches. What started as an ode to Basil's work, the importance of the find and Mrs. Pretty's trust, quickly turned into a story a love story about two characters we hardly care about. Suddenly, Basil is nothing more than a sidelined character who's just kind of "there". Like the makers of the movie just decided to make a completely different film halfway through.
I feel the movie does little more justice to acknowledge Basil's work than history has done by not acknowledging it. His importance and find have been overshadowed by a random love story we've all seen before in many other movies and to have sidelined the archeological find and Basil's importance for some cheap love story, feels wrong.
While the start is promising and portrays Basil's (Ralph Fiennes) passion and great work, halfway through the movie the storyline just switches. What started as an ode to Basil's work, the importance of the find and Mrs. Pretty's trust, quickly turned into a story a love story about two characters we hardly care about. Suddenly, Basil is nothing more than a sidelined character who's just kind of "there". Like the makers of the movie just decided to make a completely different film halfway through.
I feel the movie does little more justice to acknowledge Basil's work than history has done by not acknowledging it. His importance and find have been overshadowed by a random love story we've all seen before in many other movies and to have sidelined the archeological find and Basil's importance for some cheap love story, feels wrong.