Enduring Love...

The most god-awful and misleading title for what turned out to be a really strange and interesting thriller. When I originally received the free movie-pass to see Enduring Love, I moaned a bit, expecting it to be some sorta shlocky and nauseating Meg Ryan-esque romantic comedy. Especially when I found out that the movie revolved around a hot air-balloon accident, which just sounded lame to me.

But I was very pleasantly surprised. I have no reservations in saying that the opening sequence to this movie was one of the best opening sequences I've ever seen. Which was even more impressive because it involved this hot air-balloon accident that I'd been suspicious of earlier. It'd be worth shelling out $7.50 just to get to see it, quite honestly. It's fantastic and horrific and heartbreaking and beautiful all in the same breath. I've never seen a crowd so quiet and so tense, and the acting and the timing and everything else in these first 10-15 minutes was damn near close to perfect.

The rest of the movie wasn't bad either. It made a strange turn into a thriller at some point, but it was an interesting one. The acting was fantastic--Samantha Morton was great as always and Daniel Craig was quite good to top it all off. It was definitely engaging and propelled you forwards with it in the way that only a decent thriller can do. It speculated in interesting ways (both discussed verbally by characters in the movie and symbolized by events in the movie) about the nature of love, "enduring" love. The only thing I'm not sure I liked too much was the ending. And the end of the ending (be sure to stick around for the credits).



But no matter--the ending's slight shabbiness is far over-shadowed by the fantastic opening sequence, and I assure you, whether you hate the rest of the movie or love it, you won't regret shelling out the money once you see it.

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