Rating: 
Summary: I loved it.
Review: I hadn't had a movie make me feel this satisfied in a long time. It was very refreshing.Acting was earthly, in a great way, and the story was equally amazing. I never thought that I'd like a movie that jumped back an fourth so much, but I loved this the most. All movies should be shot that way. It gives you a whole different perspective. This movie would have been just another movie without it.
Rating:
Summary: Best of 2003
Review: 21 Grams is packed with incredible performances by Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, and last but not least, Benicio del Toro. The movie makes you piece a puzzle together which may be distracting to some but personally, I believe it's a brilliant technique. It just requires a bit of patience for the first 30 minutes or so, afterwards, the pieces start falling into place. The most gripping topic of the movie(IMO) was the questioning of the existence of God and why God chose to put such difficult obstacles in the paths of these characters. Benicio del Toro plays Jack Jordon flawlessly, with such guilt and despair visible through the glare of his eyes alone. All in all, a sad movie with a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. DO NOT miss this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Construction, Shaky Execution.
Review: "21 Grams" is the film that proves that the genius announced with the arrival of "Amores Perros" concerning that film's director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was no fluke and that he can work incredibly well in the English market as well as in the Spanish one. Inarritu here presents a story about devastation, love and revenge on a rich canvas of believable characters, scorching dialogue and beautiful cinematography. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker this would play like recycle melodrama, but with Inarritu it goes into the depths of despair and even ends with a hint at the spiritual. The performances are first rate and display the cast working up to the full extent of their talent. Benicio Del Toro delivers his best performance since "Traffic" as a man who finds salvation and then believes it to be lost. Sean Penn is equally good as a mathematician bordering on death, is saved and embarks on an odyssey that leads to murder. The best performance in the film is by Naomi Watts who jolts us with moments of pure, raw emotion and realism. If "Mulholland Drive" announced her talent then "21 Grams" really uncovers her potential and power. The technical credits are also immpecable. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (currently working with Oliver Stone on "Alexander") paints beautifully with light and colors, giving us a visual richness that adds to the film's moods (I cannot recall a more evocative shot of flying pingeons than the one Prieto does in this film). The screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga is a brilliant work of truth and ideas, it is screenwriting at it's finest in many areas. However, if the writing, directing and acting are superb, then the editing is intrusive. The film is popular for being edited in a choppy, jigsaw puzzle fashion where events from the beginning are thrown into the middle and the middle into the end and so forth. Eventhough this technique is masterfully done, it takes away from the film's over-all effect. You find yourself more concerned with what goes where than with the full impact of the story, it's implications and the ideas in the film. "Amores Perros" was brilliant in the way it crisscrossed three different stories, but it did so in chronological order and so that movie has a more visceral flow. "21 Grams" is excellent filmmaking, but Inarritu, the best director to emerge from Latin America in years, is capable of much more. That said, "21 Grams" is memorable filmmaking that shouldn't be passed over.
Rating: 
Summary: Oscar sells, but this is just Bad
Review: I can't stand this film. I couldn't get through the film the first time around. I've finally decided to sit through it (on my 3rd round) coz I don't want to waste the money I spent on it and there's nothing good on TV. Plus, I'm curious why Sean won an Oscar for it. The plot build sooooo slowly. The first 20 minutes are just jumbled-up plots that don't seem to be have any connections... but you wait and wait and wait for it to happen and it's maddeningly slow to come. It's worse than watching your bad dreams & trying to make any meaning out of it. If you're not particularly patient and love action movies, save your money and pass on this! I think Sean should have won his oscar for "I am Sam", but the Academy tends to give out overdues than current.
Rating:
Summary: "The weight of a candy bar"
Review: Mr. Inarritu's "21 Grams" is a moving and spellbinding drama that finds the director tackling similar ground as he did in his last film "Amores Perros" when a car accident is the center of the story. He also once again tells his story through a non-linear format, that allows us, the viewers, to know some clues to the future of the character's; in this case ill-fated. The performances from it's three leads are extraordinary. Penn is at his best as a dying man who desperately needs a heart transplant, but when he gets it, at what cost? Del Torro is captivating as the ex-con who forces his new christian way of life on his family in an attempt to better himself, but what would fate have in store for him? Last but certainly not least is the phenomenal Naomi Watts as wife and mother suffering through tragedy.
The performances alone are worth every minute of this great film and the only thing that the director's attention on his story telling devise hurts in this film, is that it gets in the way of the characters. Could we have gotten to know them better and feel their pain better had we had time to experience it with them as it happened instead of cutting back and forth, finding things about their future as they wait oblivious like sitting ducks.
Overall though, "21 Grams" is a moving and touching look into the human condition.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage! Garbage! Garbage!
Review: What a waste of time and money. When I rented this DVD, I inserted a piece of paper inside the DVD case warning whoever would pick it up not to rent it. I won't even go into why I hated this movie so much. It's not worth my time or effort. Just remember, I warned you. And one more thing - for all you idiots out there who loved this film and call it art, get your arrogant heads up out of the sky and get a reality check.
Rating:
Summary: 2003: The Year of Revenge
Review: With the 2003 movie year behind us, it's clear to me that a major theme film makers explored in last year's releases is that of revenge and, more importantly, the inability of revenge to right committed wrongs. "21 Grams" is a bleak, sober story about a grief-crazed woman seeking revenge out of desperation, the man who volunteers to help her carry out her desires and the ex-con who serves as the object of her revenge. The story has all the simplistic sadness of a tragedy, but that's not to say the movie itself is simplistic. Thematically, it's actually quite complex. In addition to the idea of revenge, the movie explores the ideas of fate and how one's own fate can be tied up in the fates of others; the value of life and the existence of the soul; and the fragility of physical and mental states. The acting is uniformly solid. People have seemed to single out Naomi Watts for praise, but that seems unfair to Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro. Indeed, the movie is so evenly divided into thirds, each third belonging to one of the principal characters, that it takes on an ensemble feel, with no one actor shining above the others. The film was criticized somewhat for its unnecessarily complicated structure, but that didn't bother me. Once you get through the first disorienting ten minutes or so, the pieces begin to fall into place, and loose ends are tied up deftly. It may be a bit pretentious--the fragmented narrative reflecting the fragmented souls of the characters--but it could have been handled much worse. Finally, kudos to the editor, who had the daunting task of assembling this film into coherency, and especially because of the fragmented approach. Grade: A-
Rating: 
Summary: How *lite* is 21 Grams?
Review: 21 Grams is 'not really a good film' masquerading as 'interesting experimental cinema' that has a lot of failings which will be obvious to you after the first ten minutes. Although 21 Grams is far from the worst movie you will see, beware that it does push the suspension of disbelief and the non-linear format of the storyline does not actually work. Alejandro González Iñárritu brings us a story that has been chopped by the Avid editing machine to the point where every single scene is completely disconnected. Endings occur in the start and the middle. Beginnings occur in the end and the middle. The middle occurs in the start and the end. So how does the actual abuse of this kind of narrative work? Well maybe a better story would have survived it but by the time you put the pieces together you realize just how farfetched and implausible the story really was... maybe even possibly conned. Also this experimental editing results in a severe disconnection for the viewer. You will not engage any of the characters or the story until at least more than an hour into the film and even then you have seen so much over-the-top drama and acting that at times it can be extremely boring and hard to take. 21 Grams aspires to be something like the inventiveness of the sequence of events in "Irreversible", crossed with the hype of "The Hours", mixed in with the corniness of an episode of "Dynasty". There are some moments in the film that will make you laugh even though the director did not intend it. Some scenes come out of the blue that honestly do to match the storyline. There are moments that will try your patients and you will shake your head about what all the fuss was over. The critics have got this one a little wrong in the same way that they got "The Hours" a little wrong and gave "Far from Heaven" more hype that it really deserved. Basically to tell the whole story would spoil it for you however it can easily be summed up by saying that Sean Penn plays a man who is sick and in need of a heart transplant. Naomi Watts plays a widow who has lost her family in an accident that was caused by Benicio Del Toro, a reformed con who just can't quite get it right with Jesus even though he wants too. The stories eventually come together but for all intensive purposes this is no "Pulp Fiction" and ends up looking more like a lame unbelievable story that González Iñárritu decided to chop around and give it his "art stamp" of approval so that we would not notice that he has cooked up a really dismal film that does not conform to the standards of storytelling that warrant the kind of "realism" that the acting portrays. Yes we know that Watts can take off her clothes. Yes we know she can crack up and throw out a performance when asked for it. Yes we know that Penn can change his image almost to the point where he is not recognizable. Yes we know that he too can bring real life to characters. Yes we know that Del Toro has it in aces. Yes we know that he can almost play anything that he puts his mind too. However the question begs to be answered - Why is it that a non-mainstream film like 21 Grams seems to fail like a bad mainstream movie? For this reason many will come away feeling that the experimental editing is just a camouflage for what should have been a direct to video release. It is good to see movies sideline mainstream Hollywood values and I am a fan of art films (as I am sure many who want to see 21 Grams are) but this is not one of those winners. By all means watch 21 Grams to support this kind of change in the industry (González Iñárritu has potential) but by the time the credits roll you will realize that you have indeed just watched a film that has bombed. Good ideas, one-off experimentation, interesting characters and acting but not really a good film (or a film at all) by any means. Extreme Caution is advised.
Rating:
Summary: Great Directing And Awesome Performances.
Review: "21 Grams" is the film that proves that the genius announced with the arrival of "Amores Perros" by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu was no fluke, he is a born director with a wonderful eye for powerful cinema. With his English debut he presents a puzzle as film, exploring some of the same themes from "Amores Perros," loss, violence, a mix of sex and emotional longing. The performances by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro are superb and should be studied by fresh talent looking for films to watch. The screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga (who also wrote "Amores Perros") is a brilliant work of drama and truth with characters that feel raw and real, the words leap off the screen and this drama is special because it isn't afraid to share ideas, fears and beliefs. The cinematography by another hot new talent, Rodrigo Prieto (currently working with Oliver Stone on "Alexander") is stunning, he shoots with the eye of a painter and like Vitorrio Storaro uses light to create images of hypnotic quality. The only complaint here which keeps the movie from achieving true greatness is the editing structure which has made the movie popular for the way it presents it's story in a jumbled fashion. Things from the end are thrown in at the beginning and things from the beginning into the middle and so on, this takes away from the over-all affect because you're trying more to keep up and connect scenes than actually feeling the full impact of the film's ideas and messages. This is not to say the movie sucks, the directing is virtuoso work and Iñarritu directs with the kind of passion and poetic energy he displayed in his debut (the dedication at the end of the film is quite beautiful). With the editing put aside this is a powerful, memorable movie with images and performances that will stay in your memory. "21 Grams" displays the best in directing and acting, a must for people looking for the kind of passionate filmmaking so rare in today's movie scene.
Rating:
Summary: Pointless, meaningless, bogus
Review: Great stars and great performance in this movie, but the whole story is pointless, meaningless and bogus. If there is point in this movie, I don't think the director needed to add some unncessary nude and sex scenes to draw attention of the audiences. The whole movie is a such a drag. The title "21 gram" has nothing to do with the movie, and that's why towards the end Sean Penn has to explain 21 gram in words. Watching this movie is a waste of time and money
| 
