Across the Universe

This is one of my fsvourites of all time!! I saw this, Almost Famous and The Wall in the same year in high school and it really change my life in terms of music taste, wich is important in my life.

Best musical of all time!

Absolutely magical. It is not an easy task to weave a story around an existing list of songs which weren't written to tell a single story. This is a masterpiece.

Another movie that I had somehow just never gotten around to watching until 15 years after it released. This was a trippy ride with a GREAT soundtrack (obviously). I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would with it being a musical. Would definitely recommend anyone to check this out if it even sounds remotely interesting to you!

Rating: 4.5/5 - 9/10 - Highly Recommend

It was a 10/10 until that whole drug trip section of the movie, after that it kinda seems that the writters were struggling to fit the songs into a cohesive story, the plot was all over the place and the song parts seemed like a bunch of music videos, one after another. Also, there were a lot of interesting characters that deserved a lot more screentime like Prudence and Jojo. I'll give a 8 out of 10 just because I love The Beatles songs.

I enjoyed Across the Universe. I liked all of the covers, especially when it was just vocals on its own. I enjoyed the interpretations of the songs, whether it be Revolution being the lingering soundtrack to Lucy's strong feelings against the war, or I Want To Hold Your Hand being Prudence's anthem of unrequited love (my favorite scene from the movie).

I love how it starts with these R&B Beatles Classics to give that early 60s feel, and then drifts to the songs of Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road to represent that Psychedelic/Vietnam War era.

Jude, Lucy, and especially Max seem to be pretty like-able characters. Although Jude does kinda feel vanilla and NPC. But whatever that's fine. I felt Jude and Lucy's falling-in-love was a little rushed but I felt the later part of them being divided by the anti-war revolution was deep and profound.

And of course, the ending was touching. How Jojo and Sadie's singing of Don't Let Me Down represented this healing process after the war. It paving the way for Jude and Lucy's poetic getting-back-together scene, which was done pretty well by the way; the police chasing them, Lucy not being able to get inside, her going to the opposite building, them catching eyes. Job well done.

I love the earlier parts where Jude, Max, and the boys were just having fun at college, and being rebellious. The bowling sequence where Jude falls in love with Lucy gave me a bit of butterflies. Those particular early 60s scenes capture this Teen Nostalgia, and the love of just being fun and spontaneous and finding who you are.

There are weaknesses to the film. Even though its visuals, covers, Beatles references, and characters were cool, the movie felt more so like this Wikipedia-like audio-visual timeline musical, going from year to year, just the summary of everything that happened, when it could've gone deeper. It could've explored the trauma of war a little more, how about more of Max's PTSD and healing process? Unlike Forrest Gump (1994), this movie addressed the darkness of the war, but no-one introspected on it or said anything. Everyone healed, and that's that. In a way, it skipped over that depth for the sake of having a concise, quick, enjoyable plot. I suppose the movie's job was to give you that concise audio-visual musical. I personally would've liked a little more depth.

All in all, I would recommend this movie to anyone. I love the youthful energy of these characters, how they cope with the war, pursue their dreams, and find love. Its ending is optimistic, yet acknowledges the hardship that disunites people. This "love triumphs in the end" was a sweet and heartfelt message, particularly for me.

Across the Universe is a compelling musical drama that’s incredibly imaginative. Set amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War and using the repertoire of the Beatles, the film follows a Liverpool dockworker named Jude who comes to America and falls in love with a young girl named Lucy. Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, and Joe Anderson lead the cast and give excellent performances, and there are fun cameos from Eddie Izzard, Salma Hayek, and Bono. The music is also extraordinarily well-done; doing an exceptional job at constructing a narrative and conveying the emotions of the characters. Additionally, the choreography is amazing, creating some remarkable imagery, which juxtaposed against the new musical arrangements, gives the songs new meaning and subtext. A beautifully crafted film, Across the Universe is loving homage to the music of the Beatles.

Lucy deserved better than ending up with Jude.

I don't even know why, but I was incredibly bored sitting through this. I feel like I should've enjoyed it, but I just didn't. I didn't care for any of the characters or what was happening in the story, that was written around every 'Beatles' song ever made... Insteresting idea.