Blasé Creation a Saga of Evolutionary Indifference
I’m starting to feel sorry for Paul Bettany. The guy is without a doubt one of my favorite actors, and the fact he was unable to land a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his superlative work in 2003’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World still brings my blood to a boil almost seven full years later. I’ve thought highly of him ever since I first saw him in 1997’s Bent and knew I was definitely on to something after he stole 2001’s A Knight’s Tale right out from under star Heath Ledger, and every time I see he’s in a new movie a small tinge of excitement washes through me each and every instance.
Paul Bettany in Newmarket Films' Creation
But sadly the actor keeps being the best part of an almost seemingly endless list of disappointing motion pictures. From Wimbledon to Firewall to The Da Vinci Code to Inkheart the movie’s he stars in border on the forgettable and more often than not fall sadly into the dreadful. While items like The Young Victoria are reason for celebration there are far too many films like Legion littering the Brit’s resume, and sooner rather than later those palpitations of excitement are going to vanish the more disappointments he appears in.
Add Creation to that string of misses for the actor. Bettany stars as Charles Darwin, director Jon Amiel’s (Sommersby, The Core) latest chronicling the scientific writer as he scribbles down his landmark magnum opus The Origin of Species. The thing is John Collee’s (Happy Feet) workmanlike script is shockingly dull, the dramatics concerning the death of the author’s beloved daughter and the relationship between him and his devote wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly) about as emotionally moving as a late night yawn.
There is potential here but somehow the filmmakers miss the boat entirely. Darwin’s rollercoaster ride of ups and down, his internal battle pitting faith and science against one another, his psychological spiral as he talks to his daughter Annie (Martha West), all of that and more hint at being interesting. But there isn’t any payoff, no moment that brings things full circle in a satisfying way. Amiel directs rather perfunctorily while Collee’s script feels like a series of highlights without context, drama slowly dissipating the closer the narrative comes to its historically forgone conclusion.
None of this stops Bettany from throwing himself into his role with outright abandon. He becomes Darwin body and soul, doing his best to make things intriguing even when both script and direction frustratingly work against him. The actor is a force of nature here, and while his real life wife Connelly sadly fades into the ether the same can not remotely be said for him. Like in Legion Bettany makes the most of an extremely lost cause, and while the movie did absolutely nothing for me my appreciation for its star happily continues unabated.
I do feel the need to point out one other highlight here. Christopher Young’s (Drag Me to Hell, Sleepwalking) is simply sensational. There were numerous points throughout the picture I wanted to turn off all other sound and listen only to it. His music is delicately sublime, Young adding a tiny spark of imagination and inspiration the rest of the picture sadly lacks.
Otherwise I don’t have anything else to say. For all of Bettany’s valiant efforts Creation failed to move me in any way. I had no emotional investment in Darwin’s journey, and by the time he’d finished putting pen to paper I didn’t care if his wife would support his efforts or if he’d stop having moonlit discussions with the Annie of his imagination. More than that, other the a few minor things here and there I didn’t feel like I knew anything more about the author by the end than I did at the beginning, my personal evolution going from intrigue to frustration to boredom to indifference all during the film’s 108-minute running time.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
