Not for the purists, maybe, but the last half-hour, as Firmin plunges ever deeper into his self-created hell, leaves one shell-shocked.
Comment
06/24/06
Under the Volcano (1984)
76 %
Reviews Counted: 17 Fresh: 13 Rotten:4 Average Rating: 6.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Synopsis: John Huston's screen adaptation of Malcolm Lowery's powerful meditation on self-destruction and personal despair. The hero is Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic ex-British consul living in Mexico on the eve of World War II. Tormented by his wife's infidelity, Firmin celebrates the Day of the... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Andrews, Katy Jurado
Director: John Huston
Reviews
1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
A supremely difficult book becomes an easy film, and struggles hard to find a reason to exist.
05/24/03
Top Critic
Succeeds in capturing the novel's sense of doom and gets a tour de force performance from Albert Finney.
11/08/07
John Huston's version of Malcolm Lowry's dense, poetic unfilmable book is ambitious but only semi-effective in conveying this cult novel's tone; it's ultimately saved by the towering performance of Albert Finney as the alcoholic self-destructive consul
10/29/07
The result is very much worth the wait, bringing to life the mysticism of Mexico with a superb script by Guy Gallo, exquisite photography, and the unparalleled performance by Finney.
10/23/07
Top Critic
Although this voyage into self-destruction won't be to the taste of many, there will be few unmoved by Finney's towering performance as the tragic Britisher.
10/23/07
Top Critic
The movie belongs to Finney, but mention must be made of Jacqueline Bisset as his wife and Anthony Andrews as his half-brother.
10/23/04
Top Critic
Captures and conveys the hot music of what some literary critics have called the greatest religious novel of the twentieth century
07/23/03
Daring as it is to have brought Under the Volcano to the screen in this faithful but incomplete form, Mr. Huston has done so without making compromises in the process.
05/20/03
Top Critic
As the tortured consul, Albert Finney has moments of technical brilliance, but Huston's direction gives him no inner life.
01/01/00
1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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