Review: The Fountain

Posted by: Tom Milroy  •  November 22, 2006 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

This is the first review I've written without really knowing what the movie is about. I know, I know. It's a Darren Aronofsky film and perhaps I'm not supposed to know what's going on.

The Fountain is a mess and we've seen this happen before: give a director too much money and it just doesn't work. Terry Gilliam and Steven Soderbergh, please take a step forward.

It seems Hugh Jackman is a conquistator and a spaceman and just a guy looking after his ailing wife. I think he finds the fountain of youth, except it's called "tree of life".

This movie took several years to get made. Brad Pitt was attached to it, as was Cate Blanchett. Pitt said he read the script and he cried. Well, I saw the movie and I cried, for all the wrong reasons. It's 95 minutes I'll never get back.

Rachel Weisz plays the female lead. Guess she had to, because after all, she has been with Aronofsky in real life for several years.

Ellen Burstyn also has a small role. She got an Oscar nod for Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream in 2000. At least that movie made some sense, and it was about drug-addicts.