** ½ out of ****
I was so looking forward to this film that I was completely disappointed when, for some strange reason, it never came to my hometown. Not to be deterred, I went
out of my way to go see it as I have read a couple of Stephen
Hawking's books and thought his life story to be worthy of a film.
And while the film does tell his story and tell it very well, it ends up
not being much more than a fairly milquetoast biopic and not much
more.
Most people already know Hawking's
basic story; he is most famed for unifying several scientific theories and findings into the so-called “Big Bang Theory” describing the creation of the universe. He also has
several more universally accepted scientific discoveries to his
credit, all despite suffering from a motor neuron disease that has
turned him into a voiceless virtual paraplegic who can only
communicate through a computer interface. Even if you don't know his
science, you may have seen him guest-starring on television on “Star
Trek: The Next Generation” or “The Big Bang Theory”. But this film
is not dedicated to his stature as a man of science (if that's what you're interested in, the documentary
“A Brief History of Time” is a nice effort at it) but
rather to the man himself, and more specifically to the love story
between he and his first wife, Jane.
What is really, really special about
this movie is the performance of Eddie Redmayne as Hawking. He is
utterly amazing in this role, both as the young Hawking bounding around
the Cambridge University campus and as the deteriorating physical
shell we know today. Throughout the first hour of the movie I was
entranced by what I saw on-screen, as Hawking and Jane (Felicity
Jones) meet and fall in love – it is extremely well told and very
heartfelt. You see Hawking as the brilliant mind he is, and how Jane's love for him
helped him overcome much of his social awkwardness. Then as he
discovers his disease (and is initially told he could expect around
two years to live) he tries to send her away to save her from himself, only to find
that her love was powerful enough to overcome the struggles they could see on
the horizon.
Unfortunately, at the point of the film where they
marry it starts to lose steam. Redmayne is fantastic
throughout (and to be honest, most of the performances are thoroughly
first-rate) but the story is far less intriguing than it was initially. The film-makers presentation of his discovery that black holes lose mass (a phenomenon
that was named for him – Hawking Radiation) is nicely done, but one
of the few compelling sequences of the second half. It remains a great platform
for Redmayne to evoke Hawking's physical deterioration, but really not much beyond that. I
would have preferred to see more of what Hawking and his wife were
thinking and feeling rather than what they were doing. Because in
all honesty, they don't appear to be doing much.
It's a good film to be sure, but only
half a movie if you are looking for great entertainment. The first
half is definitely that, but it doesn't maintain steam throughout.
That being said, I will state emphatically that the final sequence of the film
is extraordinarily wonderful - it's only a minute or so long but is good enough to be almost worth the price of admission on its own.
One astounding performance, many more
exceptionally good ones, and a true story that didn't quite make for great
entertainment. But for any Hawking fans out there, you should go see
it; it will give you some more insight into a true giant of modern
science.
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