Salt Lake Tribune Review
Sometimes great books don't translate to great films, and this is one of those times. Director
Peter Jackson brings all his visual prowess and sense of epic doom to Alice Sebold's novel about 14-year-old Susie Salmon (played by "Atonement's"
Saoirse Ronan), murdered in 1973 and watching her parents (
Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz) and grandmother (
Susan Sarandon) deal with the aftermath from a gorgeously realized "in between" afterlife. The script, by Jackson, wife
Fran Walsh and their "Lord of the Rings" collaborator Phillipa Boyens, races off in three directions: Susie's adventures in a CG-created limbo, the family's dealing with their grief, and a clunky whodunit involving Susie's killer (well played by
Stanley Tucci). These elements may have intertwined more elegantly in Sebold's writing, but on film they rub against each other awkwardly.
The rundown: A murdered teen (
Saoirse Ronan) watches her family's grief from the afterlife in
Peter Jackson's atonal adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-seller. 135 minutes. (SPM)
Synopsis: A young girl who has been murdered watches over her family--and her killer--from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
