REVIEW: IT ENDS WITH US
Let me start by saying that I did read the book; both books, in fact. so naturally, i drew comparisons between the two the entire time i was watching the movie. Therefore, this review is also written from the perspective of a book reader. i want to give the movie a little bit of grace because it is a known fact that the books are always better than the movies; so take that into consideration.
I’ve broken down my review into sections so i can be more clear and concise in how i felt about certain aspects or elements of the movie.
I want to know what your thoughts are too so make sure you DM me or leave a comment on my latest post!
STORY STRUCTURE
It had a hard time juggling between the romance and the seriousness of domestic violence, and ended up leaning more into the romance. Therefore, I just feel like the subject matter wasn’t well taken care of, which is just irresponsible as a writer and filmmaker. i can’t even imagine how the dv community feels about this, but i can’t imagine they’re okay with it.
they reused a lot of shots that were filmed as well. filmmakers chose to do a lot of flashbacks and instead of creating new shots to flashback to, we saw the same things over and over again, which just feels a little hallmark movie to me. this is a huge production and everybody knew it would perform well at the box office, so let’s maybe take a little extra time to get more variety. i think it’s lazy not to.
in terms of scenes, i felt that they were in chronological order and matched up with the book fairly well. Obviously, if the movie included every single scene from the book, the movie would be too many hours too long, but i did feel that some important pieces in the development of characters and relationships were missing. For example:
The journal entries that lily wrote to ellen degeneres and also ryle finding her journal entries. those two element were huge to me and i didn’t like that they weren’t included.
lily’s roommate was just nonexistent. friends say a lot about a person and they serve a lot for a person, and truthfully the lack of her presence gave me the vibe that lily is a loner, which she isn’t.
We also don’t hear the reason why lily has the atlas heart tattoo in that specific place on her body.
They left out the part when lily’s mom found out about the abuse. um… that’s a big deal to me!! huge moment that was overlooked.
i don’t think the abuse scenes were dramatic enough and i don’t think they truly showed the seriousness of his abuse to her and the extent of how ryle treated lily. i also wasn’t a fan of the fact that they didn’t outright reveal that this is what was happening until later in the movie. They made it cryptic at first and as a reader, it made me mad until it was finally revealed what actually happened in those scenes. I don’t know… not the creative choice I would have made.
CASTING
Well first things first, i agree with the masses that the casting was not ideal save for adult atlas—and actually, allysa too. They were perfect, but blake and justin felt much too old to portray lily and ryle. Not really much else to say there except that this was just a blatant decision to completely stray from the book and the readers did not appreciate that.
The acting was also a bit trite. gave me hallmark movie vibes. and i really feel like blake made lily bitchier than she was in the book. i know she is witty and playful, but blake made her feel a bit bitchy.
SET DESIGN
overall, i thought the sets were very on point with what i imagined in my head while reading the book. from Atlas’ restaurant and the uninhabitable house he lived in when he was young, to ryle’s apartment and of course, lily bloom’s. Lily’s flower shop was even better than i pictured in my mind and i absolutely loved it. it was so stunning and beautiful and i wish we got to spend more time there in the movie.
COSTUMES
LILY WAS THE MOST PROBLEMATIC IN THIS DEPARTMENT. ALL THE OTHER CHARACTERS FELT APPROPRIATE TO ME AND ON PAR WITH WHAT I ENVISIONED FROM THE BOOK. NOTHING OVERLY JUICY TO REPORT THERE. EXCEPT RYLE’S ONESIE WAS ON POINT WITH WHAT I IMAGINED, LOL.
ON TO LILY…
LET’S take the courteous approach first. while FUN AND INTERESTING TO LOOK AT, THE COSTUMES DID A DISSERVICE TO THE CHARACTER OF LILY. They were distracting, outlandish, and truthfully, just a bit ridiculous. THEY DID NOT MATCH UP TO WHAT WE READ IN THE BOOK and gave me the impression that lily is very interested in her fashion choices, when in fact—according to the book—this is not a point that’s made.
if i were to give my harsh opinion… the costumes were overtaken by blake lively’s narcissism so she could wear what she wanted, pull from her own closet, and show the world she has great style. we all know that, blake. But you’re not portraying yourself in this movie and i’m sorry, but lily wearing over-the-top statement piece louboutin’s??? swarovski crystal knee high boots??? in the book, lily seemed simple and understated to me. this was quite the opposite and it rubbed me the wrong way. Just watch this tiktok… it gave me the ick.
if i’m going to bring up the behind the scenes drama, I’m going to voice that in my opinion… i think blake lively pushed over justin baldoni, took over several aspects of the movie (including bringing in her husband, ryan reynolds, to rewrite some scenes) and she made this movie entirely about her and her brands from top to bottom. the costumes, the press tour, the script… her part in this is giving unprofessional, distasteful, and lacking any tact at all. huge bummer because i absolutely loved blake lively.
OVERALL
I enjoyed the movie. i knew it wouldn’t be a critics choice, but that audiences certainly would like it and i will say i am one of them.
it didn’t totally disrupt the book, which as a reader, made me happy. and i’d say from what i’m seeing online, other readers aren’t mad about the changes made in the movie either.
i don’t think the subject matter was taken care of very well, and i think needed to be more realistic, more intense, and more true to how ryle actually treated lily.
the movie was very pg-13 and the book was very not.
i was actually sobbing while reading the book and during the movie, i had one tear stream down my face at one point. the movie really struggled to draw out emotion from the viewers.
blake lively is putting a sour taste in my mouth, which is certainly influencing my feelings about the movie, although it shouldn’t. the set design and lily’s flower shop were my absolute favorite.
given all the drama behind the scenes, i’m curious how they’ll move forward with creating the second movie, it starts with us. if they do make it, i’m really looking forward to seeing more atlas!!
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