Film Review: The Descendants

Director: Alexander Payne

I originally saw the trailer for this back in October 2011 and was intrigued to how it would play out. A lot has happened in the past few months with great reviews from America and success at the awards. The only downside to this is that in the last month my expectations have increased greatly towards this film and possibly to a level where it was never going to live up to those expectations. I tried to temper these expectations as I sat through the trailers (all awful) and I got comfortable in my creaky reclining chair from the 1980's (went to Showcase Cinema at Belle Vue, Manchester).

Alex, Matt & Scottie



George Clooney stars as Matt King, a husband and father who has to deal with his wife being in a coma after a boating accident, his two daughters who he isn't a close to as he thought and what to do with 25,000 acres of Hawaiian land that family owns. His two daughters are 10 year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17 year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley) who he brings back from boarding school to see her mum as well as help look after Scottie during the difficult time they face. The journey of Alex maturing as she deals with her Mum being in hospital and finally being treated like a grown-up by her father is subtle, she becomes very supportive to her sister and her dad as he deals with the fact his wife was cheating on him before she had the accident. It's only at the end do you realise how far she has come from the beginning. I found the character of Scottie to be quite annoying but at a consistent level throughout the film, although to be honest I think that was the aim of her role.

The voice-over at the start by Clooney works really well. Talking about that despite living in Hawaii, their lives are just as difficult and have the some problems that any family do anywhere in the world. This was a great way to introduce the film and was perhaps a message to many people who look to move away to escape their problems. The film tried hard to stay close to the Hawaiian roots in the way people were portrayed and how they acted, whether it be how they spoke to each other or the places they lived or visited. For me, it helped keep the movie truly authentic to its setting.

George Clooney with his Best Actor award from the Golden Globes

In terms of Clooney's Golden Globe winning performance, he is very good in this film and I can see where people are coming from with the comparisons to Cary Grant etc. He comes across as a dad who really feels disappointed in himself for letting his family down and wants to make amends the best way he can. On his mission to track down and confront his wife's new lover, Matt often proves that he isn't cut out for this as he is constantly distracted by other problems in his life. The journey to find this man almost helps prove to him what he has to do to take care of his daughters and make himself happy at the same time.

My only criticism of the movie is that the relationship between Matt and his children isn't explored much more in the second half of the movie as the dedicate a lot more time to Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard) who has been cheating on his wife with Matt's wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie). It wasn't a bad storyline but didn't need to take up such huge parts of the movie. The reasons for the failure within the King family are probably all too familiar for a lot of people and really adds to the realism of the film. Workaholic Dad who neglects his wife's needs meaning she looks for fulfilment elsewhere and with children that are unhappy it just adds to the tension.

2.5/4 Maybe my high expectations have forced it down from a 3 but still a very good film.