degenerativepersonality

I'll admit the plot summary drew me to this as it had a great premise. The execution was just annoying. Wahlberg, DiCaprio and Damon were barely distinguishable. Coincidences were so contrived they were laughable. I think the problem was that this was made to be too serious. That plot and the over-the-top script would've made a hilarious comedy. In this genre it was just annoying and slow. They should've put a little more time into the end (from when they try to catch each other), instead of spending way too much time on the set up. Also, I'm not prudish, and I don't mind some cussing here and there, but it was gratuitous in this. Cussing punctuated every single sentence.

This could have benefited from being a miniseries, like they did with Pride and Prejudice in 1995. Having just recently read the book, I could see all the things rushed and left out. For instance, Anna and Vronsky didn't have enough time to flesh out their sexual tension like they did in the book. I would imagine because of the need to fit the 800+ pages into a two-hour slot.

I did, however, enjoy this film's format. It was adorable how it was part movie, part play, with the moving sets and choreographed character movements. It perfectly captured the over-the-top tone of the book while simultaneously adapting it for a modern audience.

Karenin was more colourful in the film than he was in the book. I can't decide whether I prefered him drab or more animated. Just an observation.

The decline of Anna and Vronsky's love was also rushed. The book gave it enough time to see the waves... how it would get better, then worse, then a hundred times better, then much, much worse. It showed Anna and Vronsky slowly losing their minds trapped in this eternal battle where they are each other's only confidant yet each other's worst enemy, until they reached their breaking point. The movie just has them suddenly waking up to finding each other borderline repulsive.