Rating: 
Summary: Brilliantly played ensemble piece
Review: 21 Grams came to UK shores with a bundle of critical acclaim and and an Oscar nomination for Sean Penn. And it pretty much lives up to the good things people have been saying about it. Directed by the man behind Amores Perros, you can immediately tell from the way this is filmed that it's not a typical Hollywood melodrama. The colours are bleached out and the time out of synch. However, this doesn't mean 21 Grams doesn't have something in common with such films. The centrepiece of the story is a terrible accident that affects the movie's other characters. Watching the movie at first is slightly confusing, as it shows us glimpses of things that are yet to happen in the longer sections. This technique has been used by various directors, notably Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. Yet it is the latter director with which 21 Grams shares so much, particularly his little seen first independent affair, Following, which also had very short clips from the future to break up the drama of the main story. The scenes used for this come across as short exclamations of passion and horror; a dying man covered in blood, a post-coital cigarette and a woman taking drugs in a bathroom. Whilst it's true that if it weren't for these scenes the movie might be shown as the pretty simplistic drama that it is, this doesn't make it any less compelling or any less good. For anyone's who's seen the Australian movie Lantana, this will certainly ring a few bells.What makes the movie though, besides the almost poetic direction, are the performances. Sean Penn got a lot of credit for his role and deservedly so, though the rest of the cast also give nuanced and complex performances. Benicio del Toro is superb as the heavy-religious ex-con, depicting a whole range of anger and self-loathing behind his furrowed brows. In addition, Naomi Watts really comes into her own as the lonely woman falling apart. It would have been easy to give a shouty, tear-stained performance, but she really lends a desperation to this that is tangible. Any other year, 21 Grams would have probably sweeped the Oscars, were it not for the phenomenal success and achievement Peter Jackson demonstrated with The Return Of The King. Whilst it's true to say that in hindsight it's not really as good as it would perhaps like to be, nor as original, it's still a brilliant movie in its own right and one that any fan of intelligent, adult cinema should try to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, if Overrated
Review: "21 Grams" is the story of three people, whose lives intersect in weird and compelling ways. Naomi Watts plays Christina, a woman who recently lost her husband and children in an accident. Benicio Del Toro is Jack, the guilt-ridden man responsible for their deaths. And Sean Penn appears as Paul, the recipient of Christina's husband's heart in life-saving transplant. Things slowly twist together into one arc as Paul seeks out Christina for reasons he can't completely fathom, and Christina herself becomes hell-bent on seeking revenge towards Jack. However, none of the characters can be completely described in little blurbs, as each has their share of complications that keep them both interesting and sympathetic. They all have flaws, and they all have redeeming factors. Watching everything come together and simultaneously unwind is an intriguing experience. Yet as beloved as this film is by aspiring artists (and pretentious wannabes), I feel that I must clearly state that this is not an innovative work and is in no way a masterpiece, though I can see how some may fall for its manipulative little tricks. That's not to say I hated it. It's actually an involving and well-acted little film, but I feel the mounds of praise are stacked just a little too high. While a decent and complex story, director Alejandro González Iñárritu's approach to it is more than a little self-indulgent. While never hard to follow, editing the film out of chronological order was just a bad choice, artistically (though, honestly, what so many people were probably impressed with). It just seems more like a show-offy gimmick than a valid storytelling method. Especially when you consider films that have used the out-of-sync approach and actually utilized it to create story revelations that wouldn't have worked otherwise (and, basically, I'm thinking of every Quentin Tarantino film, most notably 1994's "Pulp Fiction"). In "21 Grams", editing the film in proper order could have proven more beneficial, but might have made it seem even bleaker than it already does, which may be another (minor) reason for the editing choices. As well, for a story so full of potent emotions, it's a shame that none of them ever really connect...and I'm someone who can usually get pretty strong emotional responses from films. It just seems as if we're being forced to watch people who are in pain through some sort of invisible barrier to empathy. I think I must again blame this on the director, though his failures with this film ultimately shouldn't be indicative of a lack of talent. Directing the movie the way he did must have been hard, and he shows far more restraint than many other hacks would have, but with "21 Grams" he's just a little showy, and kind of stingy with the emotions. But for a movie I started out hating, it did start to grow on me, as the story became more and more interesting and the characters were revealed to have surprising depth. Also, the performances were extremely good, with Del Toro a stand out as an ex-con whose faith is tested by the whole ordeal. I feel I must say, to anyone game enough to try it, that I highly recommend sticking with it. The first 10-20 minutes are a little grating, but it does turn out to be pretty good in the long run. ...Though never great. Ultimately, there will be those who simply adore "21 Grams", just as there will be those who absolutely despise it. Just mark me somewhere in between.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Amazing performances by all in this mind-blowing movie. Personally, I think Penn should have one the Oscar for this film, though Mystic River was also excellent. The raw energy in this film is simply electric. See it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Bad dvd
Review: MOVIE REVIEW: Their is no way really to explain this movie without giving spoliers, DONT WORRY I wont give any major plot details away, I will just be very brief on details. It is about three people and how their lives tie them together. That all I will say. It is a great movie, and you should watch it now, one of my favorite movies. I rate this 5 out of 5 VIDEO REVIEWS: Ouch, it is very bad, it has a grainy look during the whole movie. The color levels go bright then dark, shifting all the time, when they are not supposed too. The Skintones are alfull, it makes everyone look like thery are covered in dirt. This is the rock bottom of picture on dvd. I rate this 1 out of 5. SOUND/AUDIO REVIEW: The Movie is in English Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1, with English closed captions and French and Spanish subtitles. The Soundtrack is soft, and the speaker range is poor, sifting the audio from speaker to speaker alot, however, its not alfull like the video. I Rate this 3 out of 5. EXTRAS: Nothing at all Overall: I only gave this a 3 out of 5 because the dvd treatment is alfull, but the movie is spectacular. I would say dont buy this because withen a year( I am guessing) a special edition will come out with better video/sound, and a lot of extras.
Rating:
Summary: A Dark & Painful Drama - Not For The Faint Of Heart!
Review: "21 Grams" is the grim story of three strangers whose lives are intertwined by a fatal car crash. Christina Peck, (Naomi Watts), a young wife and mother of two small daughters, loses her entire family in a horrific car accident. Before her marriage, she was apparently a "hardy partyer," and a former drug addict. Unable to cope with her enormous grief, she isolates herself and begins using again, adding alcohol to the drug mix. Jack Jordan, (Benicio Del Toro), a reformed ex-con with a wife and two children of his own, drove the speeding pickup truck that struck and killed Christina's family. He is a Born Again Christian who will go through his own spiritual hell following the tragedy. Melissa Leo gives an outstanding performance as Jack's long suffering, loyal wife. At one point she informs her husband that, "Life has to go on, with or without God." Sean Penn plays Paul Rivers, a 40ish mathematics professor dying of heart disease. If he doesn't receive a transplant within a month or so he will die. His marriage has been on the skids for some time but his British wife Mary, (Charlotte Gainsbourg), returns to him, ostensibly to encourage him to follow medical treatment until a heart becomes available. It soon becomes clear, however, that she has come back to have Paul sire a child before he dies. He finally receives a heart and Christina's husband is the donor. To call this film intense is an understatement. I experienced some serious emotional pain during the 125 minute running time and found myself questioning why I was putting myself through such an ordeal. And make no mistake, much of this is extremely painful material, from the moment one sees Penn wheezing for breath while stealing what could be a final smoke, to watching Watts learn that her family is no more, while being advised that it is best not to view the remains, through experiencing Del Toro's tormenting doubts about whether he betrayed Christ or Christ betrayed him, as he burns the tattooed cross off his arm. This is not easy entertainment, nor is it a film for those with a low pain threshold. Yet Mexican writer/director team Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu, (Amores Perros), have put together an extremely powerful, compelling, character-driven tale and the performances are brilliant, as one would expect from such a superb ensemble cast. The film's sequence is not in chronological order, but this lack of linear intent did not disturb me at all. I adjusted fairly easily to the movie's collage-like rhythms. It was the constant darkness and suffering that wore me down. The ending did not disappoint me as it did some others. I actually found it to be somewhat poetic, but I won't give it away. This is worth seeing for the acting alone - but only for the strong of heart!
JANA
Rating: 
Summary: Taking suffering to a whole new level
Review: [spoilers are in this review, but in order to review this, I feel I have to discuss the plot in detail] Looking at all the positive reviews here, I had to raise a voice of dissent. I will do my best to explain why I disagree. 21 Grams succeeds at a few things. The performances are outstanding. I was hurting inside when I saw scenes of Paul (Sean Penn) taking off his oxygen mast to smoke a cigarette, or at the end of the film when his body began to reject his new heart. The scene in which Cristina (Naomi Watts) is told her husband and daughters were run over is devastating and is a show-stopper (compare to Miranda Richardson in "Damage" - it is almost that good). Jack (Benicio Del Torro) is convincing as an ex-con who's fragile world comes crashing down after he kills Christina's family. His drunk, caucasian wife is played by the underrated Melissa Leo, known to most as one of the female detectives in Homicide. And Paul's wife, the talented, bilingual Charlotte Gainsbourg, is effective as the force who is desperately trying to build a family with Paul in spite of his depressed, ill state. Despite the flaws of this screenplay which should have been evident, these actors threw themselves into their roles 110%, and they almost save the film through performances alone. The movie's bleached, grainy cinematography succeeds in bringing Inarritu's Mexico to the USA. In his first feature, Amores Perros, Inarritu took us to an urban Mexico most of us had never seen before. Here, he succeeds in bringing that world to a nameless southwestern American town. And while we are crossing geographical boundaries, the film is edited in a clever non-linear fashion, in which we see the middle and end of the story within the first opening minutes, and the rest of the pieces are revealed in a scattered manner. An interesting point brought-up by reviewers here at IMDB is that the characters have their on timelines. Namely, Jack lives in the past as he is a haunted ex-con, and Paul is the mathematician who initially wants to survive his illness and father a child and create some sort of future. All of this is more than enough material for a drama about suffering and death. But it is what this movie does with its foundation is where it fails. To quote from the review by Scott Foundas in the LA Weekly, the theme of this movie seems to be "how much suffering is enough suffering?" Cristina resumes a cocaine addiction after her family dies. Being someone who had 'flatlined' before, you would think that she would be afraid of death, but she isn't. Paul is lucky to be alive after he receives a heart from Cristina's late husband, but he doesn't seem concerned about his life before or after the operation. Jack, who ran over Cristina's husband and daughters, feels that God has betrayed him, and is the character who speaks the most truth as he points to his hard and mutters, "hell is in here." In any case, the film set-up a climax in which these three suffering characters collide in a motel room, and at least one will die. That much is revealed in the first 15 minutes of the movie. That final meeting is dependant on an affair between Paul and Cristina, which is not unbelievable in itself, but it is where the film begins to get a little weird. I don't need a film to explain a character's motives to me, and to its credit, this film does not fully explain why Paul wants to meet the wife of the man whose heart is beating in his chest. But his stalking of Cristina, followed by their getting together, followed by their decision to become vigilantes and kill Jack was difficult to accept. But I stuck with the movie, because I wanted to see how the last pieces of the puzzle would fall into place. I was expecting something very powerful to happen in the final act. But two plot elements at the very end killed the picture for me. The first was a drugged-up Cristina being told that she is pregnant, as Paul lay dying in an ER. The second was a monologue by Paul just before the credits, which attempts to explain the movie's title. Paul croaks, "How much does love weigh? How much does guilt weigh? How much does life weigh?" At that moment, I wanted to throw objects at the screen. Sad but true. The film is like a house of cards. It's three characters who are already suffering, and the story only adds to their suffering as we go along. But when we get to the pregnancy and the monologue, I feel the house of cards comes crashing down. It just seemed like it is one layer of drama too many for this film to take on. In shot, 21 Grams is just overweight (pun intended). What was frustrating is that it took me until the final 10 minutes to realize it. There are far greater films about suffering and death. I recommend "Blue" by Krzysztof Kieslowski (which has two elements borrowed in 21 Grams). Or how about Mike Leigh's Naked, which is a far more enjoyable movie about suffering characters who only add to their grief. I'm sure I could list 50 movies like that. But this film does not belong on the list. I am confident that Inarratu is going to take us to more new and exciting places, like he did in Amores Perros. He is a talented director and is proof that Mexico is no longer a third world nation. But we shouldn't give him or his writer a free pass on this effort. A movie full of intense performances and clever editing alone is not great art.
Rating:
Summary: a masterpiece
Review: There's no point in beating around the bush about this. "21 Grams" is a cinematic masterpiece, one of the most brilliant and heart-wrenching films to come our way in the past several years. In a mere two hours and five minutes, this great work grapples with most of the fundamental themes of life, including death, religion, loss, grief, guilt, recrimination, retribution, redemption, salvation - and does so in a way that is utterly unique, profound, moving and compelling. Guillermo Arriaga has written a film that virtually defies description; he and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu have structured the narrative much like a giant puzzle, so that, at the beginning, the film seems like a jumble of unrelated scenes, with images from both the past and the "present" thrown together in seemingly random and haphazard order. Only as the story develops do all those pieces begin to fall into place so that, by the end, we see the Big Picture in all its complete and revelatory glory. Yet, so skilled are both the writer and director in developing and handling their material that there is not a single moment of confusion throughout the course of the film's running time. Thanks to the intensity of the performances, the artistry of the writing and directing, and the script's keen observations on human nature, we are drawn into the world of this film in a way that rarely happens in the cinema anymore. Among other things, "21 Grams" boasts one of the most striking and amazing acting ensembles in recent memory. The film focuses on three initially unrelated individuals whose lives intersect at a single tragic event - a hit-and-run accident that kills a man and his two young daughters who are crossing the street at the moment of impact. The incomparable Sean Penn plays Paul Rivers, a chain-smoking heart patient who gets a new lease on life when he becomes the donor recipient of the man killed in the accident. Naomi Watts is Christina Peck, a young reformed drug-addict and wife and mother of the three victims. Benicio Del Toro is Jack Jordan, a former petty criminal who's turned his life around by "finding Jesus," yet who suffers a life-changing and soul-destroying experience when he runs over the three victims, then flees the scene. The anguish experienced by each character is conveyed in agonizing detail by these three brilliant performers. There are also any number of first-rate supporting actors who make an indelible mark on the film and on our hearts, prime among them Charlotte Gainsbourg, as Paul's wife, who is unable to make a claim on her husband's affections despite standing by him through his life-threatening illness, and Melissa Leo as Jack's wife, who, in a similar way, cannot break through the impenetrable wall of guilt and self-loathing Jack has put up between himself and the outside world. I imagine that "21 Grams" will be shown in film courses for years to come, if for no other reason than as a model of superb ensemble acting for fledgling filmmakers to study and emulate. At its deepest level, "21 Grams" is really about how each of us learns to cope with unspeakable tragedy in our lives, as the three main characters are forced to face the bitterest trials life has to offer. The measure of their character lies in how each of them deals with that trial. Paul feels a need to bond with the woman whose husband gave him renewed life, even if that bond, and the feeling of personal gratitude and responsibility that comes with it, requires him to take away another man's life. Christina, now utterly bereft of all that gave her life meaning, finds she can only cope with the utter senselessness of her loss by seeking retaliation on the man she knows is responsible for her emptiness. Jack undergoes a grave spiritual crisis as he lashes out at God for - as he comes to see it - making him an unwitting participant in the tragedy. Christina and Jack, in particular, have a great deal in common, since both have succeeded in shaking off the problems of a troubled past, only to have their source of salvation (in her case, her family and, in his, religion), mercilessly pulled out from under them. Indeed, all three characters have their lives and souls torn asunder by the shattering vicissitudes of everyday life. And their emotional pain becomes ours. Put quite simply, "21 Grams" is the single best movie I have seen in years, a complete artistic triumph for all involved. It will leave you reeling.
Rating:
Summary: We all lose 21 grams when we die
Review: This is a very good movie, but was made unnecessarily complicated and confusing by the way the plot alternates between characters and different moments in time. I am not new to facing this technique, which has been used extensively by one of my favorite directors, Quentin Tarantino, and some of the writers I enjoy most, Stephen King and Mario Vargas Llosa. However, in the Tarantino movies and the King books I found enough information to make it relatively easy to follow the events and time periods to which they refer to. I found extremely hard to do this in "21 Grams", as happened when I read the great novel "Conversation in the Cathedral" by Vargas Llosa. After the first thirty minutes in the movie, it all starts to make sense and I was able to enjoy the movie. However, this production could have received five stars instead of four if the beginning was not so tangled. Paul (Sean Penn) is dying and needs a heart transplant urgently, while his wife Mary is trying to get pregnant before it is too late. Jack (Benicio Del Toro) is an ex-alcoholic and ex-convict, who has recently been fired from his job in a Country Club because of his appearance. When Jack accidentally runs over a man and his two kids, Paul gets his transplant, and the destiny of the two men and the widow become inexorably intertwined. From this point on, we witness the emotions and actions of the survivor, the victim and the man who cannot help feeling guilty. It is interesting that Del Toro received an academy nomination for this movie and Sean Penn did not. In my opinion, the latter shines brighter and his talent lead to justly winning an Oscar for "Mystic River". "21 Grams" is a movie that deserves to be seen, and I hope that if you find yourself frustrated at the beginning because it is hard to follow, you will hang in there until everything makes sense. I know you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: a big, uneven mess of a movie
Review: From what I had heard about 21 Grams, I expected a profound, deeply moving,emotionally draining, and brilliantly acted film.While 21 Grams might have started out with some potential, the end results are ultimately very dissapointing. What I got was a lot of over-acting, a lot of overwrought hysterics, a boring script, a messy structure,and a poor execution with a surprisingly empty story. You've probably heard enough about the plot.It's about three lives that become intertwined after a devastating car accident takes the lives of a man and 2 little girls.Sean Penn is a fatally ill math professor in a lifeless marriage who recieves a heart transplant due to the death of the man killed by the car. Naomi Watts is Christina Peck,the grieving widow and a former addict; and Benecio Del Toro is Jack Jordan, and ex con turned "born again Christian", the man behind the wheel that kills these three people. Supporting roles include Melissa Leo as Jack Jordan's tough and loyal wife, and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Sean Penn's wife.What follows is so messy and far fetched that I won't even go into it. First of all, the acting was pretty uneven.Sean Penn was good, but I wasn't blown away, or moved or anything.I guess the material didn't give him much to work with; didn't allow a chance to let this character develop. He mostly just walks around with a really deep and weary expression on his face the entire time; it's nothing extraordinary or worth talking about.Watts is the biggest dissapointment here.All the potential she showed in Mulholland Dr. is shoved down the drain with her portrayl here. The problem with her performance is that I can actually see her acting the whole way through; which never gives way for an actual person to develop on screen.Therefore, I didn't really feel any remorse that I should have been feeling considering what happens to her character in the film.When she's not busy trying to look sullen and "intense" she's having one Halle Berry esque nervous breakdown after another. Benecio Del Toro,really does a lot of help here.He's practically brilliant;intense and bitter and full of sad rage; he is the only main character that comes alive on the screen; the only main character that actually makes you give a damn.We see all his grief and pain and rage and regret..Melissa Leo, as Jack Jordan's wife is superb.I agree with one reviewer who claimed that Hollywood needs more actresses like her.It can't more true.I found it absolutely impossible to keep my eyes off her; not because she was beautiful, but because of the weariness,the life, and the tenderness she brought to her character.It was a small, but a striking and real performance that made you feel deeply for this woman.May I also say that together Benecio Del Toro and Melissa Leo created a very real on-screen couple.The score was also gorgeous with wrenching touches of Latin music. That's about the only praise this movie gets.The script is awfully boring and un-original; it's not really written with any consideration as to what these characters would actually say.The story is rather empty, and the back and forth structure of the film is just a lame attempt to try and "edgy" things up.In my opnion, when you're applying a different techinique onto film, there should be some sort of purpose for it; some way that this technique would alter and shape the film.In 21 Grams, the film could've been shot the way it was, or done in a linear format, and the outcome still would've been the same.I also feel like it jumped on a bunch of really important themes like religion,death,redemption,grief, but never really said anything profound or meaningful about any one of them.The creators of this film must have assumed that if they simply mentioned a deep or profound theme in their movie, then their film would be automatically deep.Well, this film isn't deep, because it's never quite sure what it's talking about, and therefore, it leaves it's viewer just as unsure.The ending is not ambiguous, it's simply blank and undercooked, and you feel exactly the same way after finishing this movie. You could fare a lot worse than 21 Grams; but you could also do a lot better.If you're really curious, I'd say rent it, but only for Benecio Del Toro's excellent performance.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: When I first started watching 21 Grams, I thought, just as you're supposed to, what the HELL is going on. For 21 minutes, 21 Grams made absolutely no sense. It was a convoluted mess of various scenes mostly revolving around three seemingly unconnected characters, Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), a terminally ill college professor, Christina Peck (Naomi Watts), a mother, housewife and recovering addict and Jack Jordan (Benecio Del Toro), a born again Christian with a past. But right from the beginning, during the intro, when you get a flash of Rivers and Watts together in bed, you know their paths will cross. In fact that was one of the confusing things, they weren't yet an item. This film was shot in chronological order with hand held cameras only and then edited totally out of sequence. In the second 21 minutes, you get a vague idea of what's going on. Rivers/Penn is vacillating between healthy and extremely fragile, Watts/Peck is swimming at her swim club one minute and in despair the next and Jordan/Del Toro is going from Proselytizing to jail. It's still confusing as hell but at least you're finally able to figure out that some scenes are in the future and some in the past. In the third 21 minutes, tragedy befalls Peck and Jordan in the form of an auto accident, a tragedy which indirectly benefits Rivers, who receives the heart of a grieving Peck's husband. Rivers is intrigued if not greatful and wants to know more about his beneficiary, so he hires a detective. In the fourth 21 minutes, although it's still jumbled, the story finally starts to come together. Rivers boots his girlfriend and manages to meet and gain Peck's trust. A rattled, guilt ridden Jordan gets released from jail and leaves his family and rejects his faith. Jack Jordan is a lost soul. Of course the remaining 42 minutes of the story is for you to find out. Conclusion Even with the unconventional method of story telling in the film, it conveyed the emotion, no it tranferred the emotion to me. This is a story of anguish, of hopelessness. Though it is probably fiction, it brings tears to my eyes as I write about it, as I can empathize with the characters. I can't say enough about the performances of Watts and Del Toro. The movie just oozed with Christina Peck's Pain and Jack Jordan's overwhelming guilt. Sean Penn's part, while not as emotional was equally well delivered. Final rating 4.5 stars Oh, one other note. What's with the title 21 Grams? It's proposed to be the weight of the human soul!
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