Rating: 
Summary: "I have no wish to fight you (Leonard Maltin)" BAMM!
Review: When I first viewed this film when I was 10 years old on May 23, 1992, when fell in love with it from the very start. It was so rare a feeling at that age to actually feel good in a very human way, not just as a spectator. The movie's theme seems to be a very trite one: Always follow your dreams. Many films have tried to exercise this theme and failed miserably. They will pump a lot of cheesy moments into one finale, without any kind of supporting events to show that it is an earned pay off. FAR AND AWAY succeeds where these other films fail. The journey starts at point A and goes straight to point B without any pishposh in between. You are with Joseph and Shannon through their fortunes and misfortunes and see almost every step they take from getting to rural Ireland to Boston and finally to Oklahoma. What also makes it work is the onscreen chemistry between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The two had only done one movie together (DAYS OF THUNDER) before teaming up for this one. At the time, they had only been married for a year, so their new found love for each other was fresh in their minds and ready to be shared. The advantage Cruise has for playing a scrappy Irish boxer is his star status and the amount of time he spends with a personal trainer. His bulging muscles in the boxing scenes show that he's no longer the little bugger in RISKY BUSINESS. It also doesn't hurt that the film is beautifully shot, taking adavantage of the rich Irish coast and the vast farmland of Oklahoma. This beautifully illustrates the long journey of the films location and plot. How exceedingly different the images feel and how far must one travel to get to each! Perhaps another reason this film is so special to me is the complete and utter romantic feel it has. The beautiful scenery, the love between the two lead characters and actors, and the gorgeous music. The score is one of John Williams' best setting all the right moods in all the right places. He starts with traditional Irish folk sounds and moves into Coplandesque America. Watching this film, my heart always goes a flutter, thinking about how I want to achieve my dreams and ambitions. One of my dreams is true love. The way Joseph and Shannon find love is striving for their dream, not knowing it was there all along. I am madly in love with a girl right now. In my fantasies, I always picture myself as Joseph and her as Shannon, kissing on an open wheatfield, our land. Whenever I hear Enya's book of days played at the ending credits, I almost weep with joy thinking about holding her and sharing my love with her. Watching FAR AND AWAY is the closest I get to fulfilling my dreams at this point. Leonard Maltin complains of no story. If there was no story, there'd be no kind of journey and I would be completly detatched. I give FAR AND AWAY 5 stars because it has stirred almost every emotion in me for over 8 years. A movie like this deserves no less.
Rating: 
Summary: No chemistry ... Bad Irish accents ... But a great movie
Review: By the time this movie was released, Tom & Nicole were well on their way to become Hollywood's Hottest Couple. If you've seen their first movie together, Days Of Thunder, where they met and fell in love (big awwwwww everyone) then you'll know there's a lot of chemistry between them. However, in Far & Away, there's virtually no chemistry between them, and there's even less in their third & final film, Eyes Wide Shut. Before movies like Fight Club came along, there were some very graphic boxing scenes in this, bare knuckle fist-fighting, which makes you wince. Of course, there has to be a time the ex-lovely Tom doesn't win - and he gets really badly hurt. The Irish accents get a little dubious, especially when Tom starts yelling, you can totally hear his natural accent slipping through. The rest aren't so bad most of the time, but Tom's is almost as bad as Keanu Reeves' extremely bad English accent in Bram Stoker's Dracula. There are some very obvious sexual scenes between them, but the couple hardly kiss or anything - there's lots of naked butts (Tom's) and naked waists (Nicole's). But not much else. This could have been spiced up with some sex, but that was left for Eyes Wide Shut. There's also a very strange scene, which could be taken one way or the other. It's the scene after Joseph loses, and gets beaten up, and goes back to where he was staying with Shannon, and finds his ex-boss in the room with her. She's still dressed, but in tears, and it just hit me that something else could have happened. Maybe this wasn't the intention, maybe it's just my mind! There are some pretty cheesy lines in this, but you just ignore this, and watch the beautiful scenery and listen to the equally beautiful soundtrack. This isn't the best Tom & Nicole movie, due to lack of chemistry, and I definitely wouldn't recommend Eyes Wide Shut. I still love this movie, but if you can ignore the car racing nonsense, then definitely see Days Of Thunder.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie
Review: Shannon does not wish to live a sheltered boring life like her mother does with all her boring friends who sit around drinking tea. She is more adventurous. However, she's a little naive in terms of what America is like. She is not accusomed to hardship yet she realizes that the ward boss is not helping them out of the goodness of his heart, he is using Joseph to maintain his control. He knows that but doesn't want to admit it. Joseph is reminded of his dream of land in America. Two people from different worlds who eventually fall in love
Rating:
Summary: Irish accents?
Review: I really liked this movie but the reviews here are even more entertaining. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had bad Irish accents? Vivian Leigh's Scarlet O'Hara had the worst southern American accent imaginable. Her movie (...."Gone with something?... wasn't it called?) managed to survive it. No story in Far and Away? Let's see... Spoiled rich Irish Protestant girl meets poor Catholic Irish boy and romantic sparks fly as surface insults are traded. Both dream of a new life in America but for different reasons. The parents of the girl are each magnificently portrayed by fine actors. The manager of the wealthy father's holdings, and Shannon's would-be suitor, is a man you love to hate thanks to the fine acting of this character. The cinematography is magnificent. The story varies from epic to tragic to comic to Western in the way a true Irish immigrant's life would unfold in the period. There's action and humor. There's an underlying dream driving the entire movie. There is a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man who both have the kind of drive an Irish immigrant would need to survive the rough and tumble life in America in the late 1800's. The costumes and sets are great. The land rush scenes are magnificent and accurately portray what has been captured in still photos of the real Oklahoma land rushes. There are no gratuitous sex scenes though the bawdiness of life in an Irish Boston whorehouse is honestly portrayed. There is a triumphant scene at the end where love does prevail over the desire for material wealth through land ownership. For the life of me, I cannot see what is missing from this movie. I liked it. I bought it. I'm glad I'm not married to some of these reviewers who would complain the luxury car I just bought them as a gift did not have enough lighting around the visor vanity mirror. Shannon Christie, the spoiled rich girl in this movie, has nothing on some of these reviewers.
Rating: 
Summary: Only because I can't give it zero
Review: This well may have been the worst movie I've ever seen. I only watched it to the end to see if it could continue to deteriorate. Shockingly, it did. The storyline was terrible, the dialogue was worse. The best part (or worst, depending on how you look at these things) was the very end. Just when you think the film couldn't get more insipid, a horse rolls over Tom Cruise and, much to Nicole Kidman's chagrin, he dies. She starts crying and screaming over his dead body and, shades of Beauty and the Beast, his eyes suddenly pop open. Yes, he's been brought back to life by the strength of her love. What were these people thinking? If you are trying to find a movie to fill out your list of the ten most worthless films of all time, check this one out. If not, don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: Book of Days
Review: Far and Away is such an incredible looking movie that your heart might end up hating your eyes for distracting yourself from the true beauty of the film. This film is the story of Joesph and his hopes and dreams. His father is killed and he seeks to kill the man that took his land. Joseph meets up with Shannon, the wealthy daughter of the man responsible for taking Joseph's land, and she pays him to take her to America. Unfortunately they're robbed and we see the cold, harsh realities of foreigners trying to survive in America. Through prize fighting, Joseph begins to make a nice life for himself, while the spoiled Shannon ends up plucking chickens to make end's meat. Their trials and tribulations bring them together in one of the best love stories told, and the ending...well, lets just say that it's one of the most wonderful endings you'll find in a film. Ron Howard has done an incredible job of bringing this film to life, and the performance of Tom Cruise is one of his best ever. Far and Away is a film that you have to see. You'll feel better about life after you have.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much edited from TV version
Review: I was very disappointed to find so much missing from this movie on DVD. I have the TV version recorded and I know they left out quite a bit. This seems strange since DVDs are suppose to hold so much more information. I also saw the movie at the theater a couple of times,there are parts missing on the DVD that were in the theater version also. Don't buy the DVD if you enjoyed the TV version"with never before seen footage". I had expected the DVD to cover it all,but at least everything I saw at the theater.
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe this is only a 2-star movie.
Review: I might I have only been intrigued by this movie because I was bored (first saw it at 12:00 at night on TV when I couldn't sleep), but I was shocked at what a MIRACULOUS film this is. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. For critics to say there was no story, WHERE WERE YOU DURING THIS MOVIE? All the twists and turns kept me guessing until the end. It was in no way predictable. All throughout the movie, I thought Shannon and Joseph would kiss and live happily ever after, but something would tear them apart. Films like this come few and far between. I highly recommend this epic!!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I've seen
Review: Far and Away is one of the best movies I've seen! When I first saw it in theaters in May '92, I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. It was all I thought about. My world view changed. Too bad Tom and Nicole don't look as nice as they did back then. It should be showed much more often on regular TV.
Rating:
Summary: One of the few Tom Cruise movies I actually enjoy
Review: This is one of greatest epics of the 1990s. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are excellant. I thought their Irish accents were great, plus the cinematography and soundtrack are excellant. It is a classic story of how two different Irish immigrants achieve the American Dream. They make mistakes, overcome adversities, and find each other despite their differences and flaws. Some say this movie perpetuates negative Irish sterotypes, but good grief, they are the hero and heroine of the story. Say what you will about stereotypes, they do usually have SOME truth in them. Finally, the movie has intimate love, not just constant sex. A great movie about that era.
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