The Fault in Our Stars - Movie Review
3"The Fault in Our Stars" (2014) directed by Josh Boone is a wholesome and tragic story that I greatly appreciated. Based on the by John Green, and I will mention I watched the extended version.
Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) suffers from lung cancer and depression. She knows her days are numbered and she struggles to find fulfilment in them. She meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) in her support group, and he is an extremely charming and handsome man who begins to court her. The two fall in love but since they both have cancer this story will not be ending traditionally happy like many other romance media.
The Fault in Our Stars really gripped me with it's basic but humanized story. The events are obviously very emotionally charged and every scene was engaging. This was a rare romance story where I actually believed the two would fall for each other too. I greatly respected that Augustus is portrayed as a terrified victim of circumstances, rather than a perfect being who flies into save someone else, and I also really appreciated the change in positions of the two leads, as Hazel becomes the strong one while Augustus falls down from his initial high mountain of unbound confidence.
As for problems, there aren't many. For arguments sake, I would say that Peter van Houten (Willem Dafoe) is the worst aspect of this story not just because he is inconceivably rude, but because the importance of him to Hazel contradicts one of the very things Augustus says to her when they first met, which was that her life and story is more than her illness, but then she turns around and continues talking about the subject of cancer. The second half of the film is weaker because the romance, tension, and "Will they, won't they" aspect gets defused. I would also argue they fall in love remarkably fast, and it was most likely more natural and made more sense in the book version.
This is a very good romance that tackles some important topics, even diving into taboo territory occasionally with how dark and bleak it gets. The main reason the film is effective is because of the two leads and their humanized stories.
Video by Rainy Nights.
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