The Giver
Director: Phillip Noyce
Year Released: 2014
Rating: 1.0
Another one of those bleak futuristic depictions of humanity, this time with the numb 'utopian' society assigning one person the role of the "Receiver" (Brenton Thwaites) who psychically obtains information about humanity's dark past from "The Giver" (Jeff Bridges). Basically a less complex Brave New World for kids (it's based on a young adult novel by Lois Lowry) - with some naive philosophical ideas - the movie plays out stiffly (those meetings with Jeff Bridges sounding like he has a mouthful of food are not exactly dramatically potent) straight to its feeble ending (all cured!). Meryl Streep, as the Chief Elder, could have done the role by video teleconferencing and the young leads (Thwaites and Odeya Rush) aren't particularly interesting characters.
