Please Let Me Go!!

Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield on the movie poster for Never Let Me Go.

I love Keira Knightley. She is beautiful (albeit a little cringeworthingly skinny) and an amazing actress to boot. Whether she is portraying a swashbuckling pirate or an outspoken but downtrodden lady, I find her highly entertaining to watch. I think it speaks a great deal to her character that she chooses good movies to do, and it has gotten to the point where I always know that a movie she is in is one that I should see. That is why, upon hearing that she was in it, I felt that I had to see Never Let Me Go.

For those of you who have not seen the movie or have some kind of inkling to watch it, I suggest you skip the next paragraph, as I am about to go into a little detail as to what the movie is about.

The storyline for the movie sounded intriguing enough - it revolves around clones who are born and bred to be donors for their "human" counterparts ensuring that said counterparts can live a longer, happier life. The movie follows the lives of three of these clones from their boarding school days where they are forbidden to leave the premises of the school and eventually discover their lot in life; to their post-school days of living together under one roof and attempting to find meaning for themselves; and finally to their first, second and third donations until they finally reach "completion".

Now, I won't lie, I can see how that plotline could be exciting. I am picturing it in my mind and thinking to myself: Why didn't I like it again? Oh, that's right - It was completely and utterly boring. There were a number of times during the movie when I just about fell asleep. After our own "completion" of the movie, my friend and I looked at each other and were in complete agreement. Jess was the first to say it aloud.
"I want a clone just so that I can get those two hours of my life back!"

I cannot say that I completely blame Knightley for choosing to act in the film - as I said earlier, the plotline sounded so promising! The book was a bestseller! Who was to know that the movie was going to be an utter flop? Well, a flop in my opinion anyway - critics seem to love it and it received a rating of 7.3 on IMDB. But apparently Knightley seems to agree with my assertion - if you look at the cast, it would seem that she is removed from the initial list despite being one of the three main characters of the movie, certainly far more important than the unnamed Doctor who is prominently listed. I cannot imagine any reason why a popular actress like Knightley, certainly the star of the show which included a largely unknown (at least to me) cast headed by Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan, wouldn't be at the top of the list of cast members, unless she insisted on being removed or placed in a far less prominent position (19th on the list, below Delivery Men 1 and 2). What reason could she have for doing this other than being embarrassed to have acted in such a dull, wrist-slittingly boring effort of a movie?

In any case, the fact that she chose to act in such a movie does not diminish my love for her. Everyone makes mistakes at one point or another. I just hope she doesn't make a mistake of this magnitude again any time soon.