Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I have no wish to fight you (Leonard Maltin)" BAMM!, July 11, 2000
When I first viewed this film when I was 10 years old on May 23, 1992, when fell in love with it from the very start. It was so rare a feeling at that age to actually feel good in a very human way, not just as a spectator. The movie's theme seems to be a very trite one: Always follow your dreams. Many films have tried to exercise this theme and failed miserably. They will pump a lot of cheesy moments into one finale, without any kind of supporting events to show that it is an earned pay off. FAR AND AWAY succeeds where these other films fail. The journey starts at point A and goes straight to point B without any pishposh in between. You are with Joseph and Shannon through their fortunes and misfortunes and see almost every step they take from getting to rural Ireland to Boston and finally to Oklahoma. What also makes it work is the onscreen chemistry between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The two had only done one movie together (DAYS OF THUNDER) before teaming up for this one. At the time, they had only been married for a year, so their new found love for each other was fresh in their minds and ready to be shared. The advantage Cruise has for playing a scrappy Irish boxer is his star status and the amount of time he spends with a personal trainer. His bulging muscles in the boxing scenes show that he's no longer the little bugger in RISKY BUSINESS. It also doesn't hurt that the film is beautifully shot, taking adavantage of the rich Irish coast and the vast farmland of Oklahoma. This beautifully illustrates the long journey of the films location and plot. How exceedingly different the images feel and how far must one travel to get to each! Perhaps another reason this film is so special to me is the complete and utter romantic feel it has. The beautiful scenery, the love between the two lead characters and actors, and the gorgeous music. The score is one of John Williams' best setting all the right moods in all the right places. He starts with traditional Irish folk sounds and moves into Coplandesque America. Watching this film, my heart always goes a flutter, thinking about how I want to achieve my dreams and ambitions. One of my dreams is true love. The way Joseph and Shannon find love is striving for their dream, not knowing it was there all along. I am madly in love with a girl right now. In my fantasies, I always picture myself as Joseph and her as Shannon, kissing on an open wheatfield, our land. Whenever I hear Enya's book of days played at the ending credits, I almost weep with joy thinking about holding her and sharing my love with her. Watching FAR AND AWAY is the closest I get to fulfilling my dreams at this point. Leonard Maltin complains of no story. If there was no story, there'd be no kind of journey and I would be completly detatched. I give FAR AND AWAY 5 stars because it has stirred almost every emotion in me for over 8 years. A movie like this deserves no less.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I can't believe this is only a 2-star movie., April 10, 2004
A Kid's Review
I might I have only been intrigued by this movie because I was bored (first saw it at 12:00 at night on TV when I couldn't sleep), but I was shocked at what a MIRACULOUS film this is. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. For critics to say there was no story, WHERE WERE YOU DURING THIS MOVIE? All the twists and turns kept me guessing until the end. It was in no way predictable. All throughout the movie, I thought Shannon and Joseph would kiss and live happily ever after, but something would tear them apart. Films like this come few and far between. I highly recommend this epic!!!
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Irish accents?, January 4, 2004
I really liked this movie but the reviews here are even more entertaining. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had bad Irish accents? Vivian Leigh's Scarlet O'Hara had the worst southern American accent imaginable. Her movie (...."Gone with something?... wasn't it called?) managed to survive it.No story in Far and Away? Let's see... Spoiled rich Irish Protestant girl meets poor Catholic Irish boy and romantic sparks fly as surface insults are traded. Both dream of a new life in America but for different reasons. The parents of the girl are each magnificently portrayed by fine actors. The manager of the wealthy father's holdings, and Shannon's would-be suitor, is a man you love to hate thanks to the fine acting of this character. The cinematography is magnificent. The story varies from epic to tragic to comic to Western in the way a true Irish immigrant's life would unfold in the period. There's action and humor. There's an underlying dream driving the entire movie. There is a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man who both have the kind of drive an Irish immigrant would need to survive the rough and tumble life in America in the late 1800's. The costumes and sets are great. The land rush scenes are magnificent and accurately portray what has been captured in still photos of the real Oklahoma land rushes. There are no gratuitous sex scenes though the bawdiness of life in an Irish Boston whorehouse is honestly portrayed. There is a triumphant scene at the end where love does prevail over the desire for material wealth through land ownership. For the life of me, I cannot see what is missing from this movie. I liked it. I bought it. I'm glad I'm not married to some of these reviewers who would complain the luxury car I just bought them as a gift did not have enough lighting around the visor vanity mirror. Shannon Christie, the spoiled rich girl in this movie, has nothing on some of these reviewers.
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