Unfulfilled Expectations: A Review of "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey"

Movies often require viewers to suspend their disbelief. However, the film "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" demands this without providing emotional bases for viewers to make this leap. The movie, an unconventional romantic fantasy, struggles to convincingly portray an unlikely love story between its main characters, Sarah and David, played by Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell.

Director Kogonada, known for creating emotionally resonant scenes, fails to live up to his reputation. Despite successfully employing subtle touches to explore deep human experiences in his previous works such as "Columbus" and "After Yang", he seems to fall short with this film. An insubstantial script is one of the main issues, which fails to resonate strongly under Kogonada's nuanced direction.

In spite of its focus on memory, grief and loss, the movie's whimsical nature lends itself to a flashier style which seems out of place due to Kogonada’s restrained style. Moreover, an awkward sense of humour doesn’t quite work with the supposed profound life lessons that the movie attempts to impart.

Both Farrell and Robbie deliver lukewarm performances that are unusually detached. Farrell's character David, and Robbie's Sarah, meet at a wedding but their on-screen chemistry is nonexistent. Their journey together, facilitated by a sensual voiced-GPS, leads them through various locations reminiscent of their past, offering them chances to overcome their previous issues and open up to new relationships.

Although the movie has its moments, a lack of world-building and the characters' non-questioning acceptance of their bizarre circumstances distance the viewers from the narrative. Everything seems unrealistic and staged, damaging the believability of the film. It falls short in capturing hearts like other human dramas such as “The Life of Chuck” and “We Live in Time.” Despite featuring some visually pleasing moments, on balance, "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" turns out to be an underwhelming endeavour.