(This review may contain spoilers).
When I saw this film advertised originally, I knew it would be very emotional… but I still thought it might be good. I haven’t read the book the film is based on, but the semi-narration style was an interesting way of drawing me into the film.
For most of the beginning of the film, I didn’t particularly like Greg’s character. It was quite clear that he didn’t really care about anyone; even Madison just seemed to spike his interest because she was attractive.
I did find it interesting to see Greg’s views on the different cliques in high school, but it wasn’t until his mother forced him into going to see Rachel that I felt he started to grow and develop. What was refreshing was his honesty at the start of their interactions.
It was really interesting to see the different headings for various scenes, as if I was actually watching a movie created by Greg.
While I did like Greg and Earl interacting, I did think that, at first, Earl did seem a bit stereotypical. As the film progressed, though, I felt he was a nicer person than Greg… and there were some really good scenes between them. Earl was probably one of my favourite characters by the end of the movie.
There were a lot of good artistic moments in this movie. The films they made were kind of cringeworthy, but still interesting ideas. And it was cool to see Greg and Earl trying to make a more serious film.
I liked being able to see the different family relationships and it was also cool, if weird, to see how chaotic the cafeteria was. I could understand Greg and Earl choosing to eat in their teacher’s room.
I did think that it was good there were some running themes throughout this movie and I thought the characters came across as fairly typical teenaged boys. There were emotional parts to this movie, especially towards the end, and I did feel that Greg was given the opportunity to grow and evolve as a person.
I don’t think I’d watch this film again, but it was good, if sad, to watch one time.
Ink of Blood 