Focus FeaturesReview in a Hurry: Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie (James McAvoy) are so young and beautiful and in love that you'll want to gag. Fortunately—for the drama, at least—their romance is blown apart by World War II and a bombshell dropped by Cecilia's younger sister. Love is a battlefield, but this gorgeous tragedy proves victorious.
The Bigger Picture: Could Keira Knightley be director Joe Wright's muse? After starring in his superb version of Pride & Prejudice, she reteams with the Brit helmer for another excellent adaptation, this one based on Ian McEwan's novel Atonement. Knightley's elegance and just-under-the-surface smolder again complements Wright's sensuous, painterly compositions. But this ain't just pretty pictures. There's real passion, sorrow, humor, and—duh—atonement. What more do you want for 10 bucks?
In the summer of 1935, at the Tallis family's English manor, 13-year-old Briony (perfectly precocious Saoirse Ronan) finishes writing her new play, while big sister Cecilia (Knightley) shares flirtations with the housekeeper's handsome son, Robbie (McAvoy). After witnessing—and misinterpreting—a few incidents between the two lovers, Briony decides to create some real drama; she labels the underclass lad a "sex addict" and wrongly accuses him of a crime. (The pic cleverly plays out the scenarios from different characters' points of view without ever being jarring or repetitive.)
Robbie gets dragged off to jail, and four years later, he becomes a soldier, fighting Germans in France. But he vows to return to his beloved Cecilia, who works as a nurse in London. Also a nurse now, Briony is plagued with a guilty conscience and tries to meet with her estranged sis to apologize.
What could have been dull and literary is instead exciting and vibrant, thanks to masterful execution on every level. Lovely Knightley is well-matched by costar McAvoy, who—endearing as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia—sheds his faun fur here for army fatigues and leaps into leading-man status with this charming, emotionally charged performance.
The plot bogs a bit during the war sequence and—in suddenly jumping forward several years—denies us the initial fallout from Briony's accusations. But these are minor quibbles. The film digs deeper and becomes more complex as it goes along, with a coda—featuring a heartbreaking Vanessa Redgrave as present-day Briony—that delivers a powerful message: Art has the potential to heal and redeem. It'd be hard not to find Atonement pretty damn therapeutic.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Wright goes wrong only in giving us too much of a good thing. He depicts the British evacuation of Dunkirk beach with a continuous, five-minute tracking shot that features thousands of soldiers, horses, burning buildings and even a Ferris wheel. Yeah, it's eye-popping, but the cinematic showiness could actually pull you out of the experience. Instead of Whoa, war is hell, you might keep thinking, Wow, a Steadicam is heaven!