Bel Canto

I throughly enjoyed the book and was anxious to see the movie. Found it to be disappointing and lacking. If they had followed the story line closely to that of the book it would have been a great love story to watch unfold. The movie seemed rushed. It didn't allow you to connect to any of the characters. To understand what they were going through or how the bonds were created among a group of strangers made up of hostages and rebel group whose planned did not go at all as they had intended.

My only joy was to see Ken Watanabe cast as Mr. Hosokawa. His acting is always superb. Julienne Moore, while a wonderful actress, unfortunately, was not credible at all as Diva Roxanne Coss. She just didn't fit the description I had in my mind of the character.

Because I thought this was a pretty good and touching movie. One test I have, when watching a movie on cable, is how many times I pick up my phone to check the net. I didn't during this one. I will not give spoilers but it's based on a novel ... so the outcome is not a script thing but an adaptation. I thought the performances were compelling enough. Don't be discouraged by other reviews. Make up your own mind.

There appear to be a lot of "haters" because of what this movie is not about. What it is about is the relationships that develops between 2 groups, between terrorists and their captives (perhaps "Stockholm Syndrome"?). While the movie is not as good as the novel, it is very good.

The only reason I saw this movie was because Julianne Moore, which she did a good job at, but I thought her character lacked some substance, something that I would have appreciated in order to better connect with the main characters of the movie. The movie has a good story, but I think its hard to go into that much details in less than 2 hours. Bel Canto would have been a great if it was made into a mini-series.

Besides Julianne Moore, others actresses and actors in this movie were not bad either, especially the Commandate Benjamin "Tenoch Huerta" and Carmen "Maria Mercedes Coroy," but again I would have liked to learn more about these characters.

Overall, it was a cute movie and as my title suggests it is not a thriller movie at all, there was more romance in the movie than the thriller part.

Hardly a realistic plot to narrate, with great perspective though mostly because of Julianne. And somewhere between small doses of suspense and greater of humanity, the film leaves us with the feeling of unfinished business, as if the director wanted simply to proceed without the emotional strength, this movie could bring. It got flat at this very moment anyone expected the power behind the facts. Anyway, it was no waste of time, enjoyable but ...something finally was missing.