Another mixed bag for me. I really wanted to like this movie. Ethan Hawke delivers his best performance yet, Amanda Seyfried is also very good, the whole tone of the movie is genuinely depressing and I really felt the depth of some of the dialogue between the characters. But in the end I felt disconnected by the means the director used in order to achieve his purpose. I felt like I was force fed all of his environmental concerns in a very direct way and this is something that always turns me off when I watch a movie. Of course it's fine when someone wants to have a political message in a movie, and the destruction of the environment is certainly a noble one, but I don't like it when movies portray such complex issues in such an absolute and simplistic way.I mean my biggest problem with the movie (SPOILERS) was the fact that Ethan Hawke's character eventually changed his world view because of an activist. I mean I get the allegory between hope and despair when it came to him and Mary and the contrast between his "true" belief and the commercial belief of the other pastor, both of these explain the crisis he finds himself into, and of course the fact that he discovers he is probably very sick.But to me, if drastic change didn't come from his sons lost in the war, when it comes to his belief and world view, I just doubt it that meeting an activist who is also clearly depressive is a strong motive for such a man to change.
Review of First Reformed
