Three Thousand Years of Longing review

THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING: 

GEORGE MILLER FANTASY IS VISUALLY STRIKING BUT SOMEWHAT MESSY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

MGM

Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing

 

            Director, George Miller (Mad Max franchise, The Witches of Eastwick, Babe: Pig in the City) gives his take on an Aladdin-style fantasy for adults in his new film, Three Thousand Years of Longing. I’ve always respected Miller as a filmmaker as he’s got a vast library of movies, he’s done post-apocalyptic action films with the Mad Max franchise, a comedy where three witches go up against a devilish Jack Nicholson, a family movie about a talking pig and his adventures in the big city, and an animated film about a dancing penguin, what can’t this man do? 

            So yeah, I’m a huge fan of Miller’s work and Mad Max: Fury Road is also among my all-time favorite films. Naturally, I was curious to see what his next film was going to be. 

            The film definitely caught my attention when I first saw the trailer, it looked like a chaotic, imaginative, and visually striking assault on the senses that only Miller could bring us…and this came out after my senses were already obliterated a few months prior with Everything Everywhere All at Once. Upon seeing the film, I was quite entertained by it…but I wouldn’t consider it one of George Miller’s finest. 

            The film is a visual marvel that’s bursting with imagination and unique characters, creatures, and environments. But in terms of its story and pacing, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a little sloppy. 

            The film follows Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton-Adaptation, The Chronicles of Narnia, Marvel Cinematic Universe), an academic who stumbles across an ancient Djinn (Idris Elba-Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Suicide Squad, Sonic the Hedgehog 2) while in Istanbul and offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. So, an excited Alithea jumps at the idea of her getting three wishes from a Djinn like Aladdin, right? Not exactly! 

             She doubts the Djinn’s existence and because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her various stories of his past, eventually beguiling her and makes a wish that surprises them both. 

            Overall, Three Thousand Years of Longing might hold the record for George Miller’s most ambitious and unconventional film throughout his career. It has a lot of his signature visual flair and imaginatively crazy sequences, but unlike something like Mad Max: Fury Road where it’s an energized, adrenaline-pumped thrill ride from start to finish, this one is surprisingly restrained, which may turn casual moviegoers expecting a consistently wild fantasy done in the style of Mad Max off. 

            This is a more dialogue-heavy film compared to Mad Max: Fury Road as most of the George Miller craziness is told through stories by the Djinn to Tilda Swinton’s character, and that it will constantly flip-flop from these otherworldly and visually stunning fantasy environments to Swinton and Elba talking to each other in a modern-day hotel room. To the film’s credit, I was thoroughly invested in the Djinn’s stories done like an anthology film, but when it’s Elba and Swinton in the hotel room? Not as much. 

            It’s mostly because Tilda Swinton’s delivery in this film is so dry to the point where she reacts to the magical Djinn in the same way she probably would if the hotel chef overcooked her breakfast. You could argue that it’s kind of the intention by having her react to something whimsical like it’s an annoyance, but it makes it difficult to connect with her as a character, though she and Elba do work wonderfully together when they’re onscreen together, I just wished there was more relatability to her character in this. 

            Like when I reviewed Beast a few days ago, Idris Elba is giving his all as the Djinn and does an excellent job shifting from being quiet and down to Earth to loud and intimidating. Whether he’s playing as Asgardian, a father fighting a lion, or the voice of a super-strong cartoon echidna, this man always makes an impression whenever he shows up. 

            As visually stunning and ambitious the film is, the narrative and pacing aren’t that great. The first half is an intoxicating and chaotic experience reminiscent to classic George Miller fare, but the second half once Swinton and Elba leave the hotel, it loses that momentum from earlier and it drags with a lot of exposition and fades to black (Was Miller channeling Lord of the Rings when the film was being edited or something?). 

            Had the plot and characters been fleshed out more, I think it would have been a much stronger film. But as is, it’s still an interesting and bizarre movie, it just loses some of that kinetic energy and drags in the later half. 

            Three Thousand Years of Longing is probably George Miller’s most divisive directing effort. On one hand it’s a visual feast for the eyes and imagination, but on the other the story and characters aren’t quite as developed compared to some of his previous films, I’d say it’s worth checking out once on the big screen.