Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Giver Blu-ray Movie Review

Rebel with a cause.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 13, 2014

There's an old adage that says "those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." What about those who choose, for all intents and purposes, to forget it altogether? Since history is shaped by man's strengths and weaknesses, does history still matter if man's weaknesses are removed from the equation? If greed, anger, and fear are taken off the table, is man truly doomed to repeat history's greatest follies and most dangerous personal shortcomings if he is simply never exposed to their realities? Can man's figurative wires be reworked for his greater good, or will those inner base emotions still find a way to rise to the surface, regardless of how strongly they're externally stifled? The Giver, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Author Lois Lowry, takes viewers inside a society where anything negative, and anything that may be construed as negative or that could potentially lead to something negative, has been purged, effectively replacing human emotion and ambition with a collective mindlessness "for the greater good." Overflowing with thought-provoking complex themes and challenging metaphors, the film does well in telling Lowry's story but doesn't effectively convey all the deeper meanings with the subtlety and nuance it deserves. It's up to the audience to unravel the layers and decipher the meaning -- can man weed out his own natural instinct, for example? -- making the movie more a springboard and less the final word on Lowry's frightening vision of the future and hopeful analysis of man's best in naturally, not forcefully, overcoming his worst.

Glimpse the future.

Following a great disaster, man rebuilt communities and populated them with individuals whose memories of the past were erased, where history is not taught, where individuality is removed from the societal equation. It's a society built on strict rules and proper language usage, where people wear assigned clothes and, upon maturation, perform assigned duties. There is no lying, no popularity, no winners, no losers, no temptation, nothing that could lead to any sort of wrongdoing that could hurt oneself, others, or the larger community. Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), upon his maturation, has been assigned to serve as an understudy to the only person in the society allowed to break the rules and retain a knowledge and understanding of history. He learns from the man (Jeff Bridges) and immediately comes to see the truth behind the colorless façade that shapes his world. Soon, Jonas must confide in or confront his friends (Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan) and go against the decrees of the community's chief elder (Meryl Streep) by breaking the rules in the name of what he now knows to be right, even if society deems it to be wrong.

The Giver plays like some strange amalgamation of Elysium, Logan's Run, The Island, and Pleasantville, depicting a colorless, retro-future 1950s black and white exterior styling (Pleasantville) with story prompts that focus on a world separated from its unwanted components (Elysium, The Island) and built around a ceremony similar to Logan's Run's "Carrousel," there a ritual in which people are literally killed, here a ritual in which they are figuratively killed, cut off from any hope for freedom of choice and self-determination. It's not taking life at maturity but assigning life at maturity. Is there a real difference between physical death and spiritual and emotional stifling? Not really, but at least in the world of The Giver there's that one-in-a-million chance someone might wake up and come to understand that life as an enslaved, practically brainwashed zombie is not living but rather operating for something other than one's own emotional satisfaction and the betterment of themselves and those for whom they care the most. The film predictably maneuvers through cliché examples of pleasure and pain, but the greater point stands in its spirited determination to show the distinction between knowing and feeling, seeing and exploring, and appreciating life rather than simply passing through it as someone else commands.

One must really wonder, then, how those arranging the new society could tolerate a wild card in the from of "the giver" in the first place. Throughout the story, the giver -- and both of his apprentices -- cause nothing but "trouble" for the rest of society. It's like if a society banned guns but one person hangs on to a gun with the authority to use it at his or her discretion while everyone else is ignorant that such a thing even exists. After all, these "givers" and "receivers" are allowed to bend and break many of the rules as they see fit. They're allowed to lie, for example, in order to keep their secrets safe. Should a de facto " historical counselor" really be necessary if a society stringently follows the rules and lives in a world where anything truly negative has all but been engineered away through drugs and careful planning? Does that not imply that whatever they are doing, whatever drugs they are pushing into their systems, are not properly erasing human ambition and individuality? It seems like man can't be so easily controlled after all, particularly those at the top writing the rules, enforcing the rules, and "in the know" behind the scenes with murder on their hands and drugs in their syringes. In essence, they wish to be counseled by history but they wish not to know history. Does that also not imply history's importance to society, and does not singling out Jonas at the ceremony only further accentuate his -- and history's, then -- importance? Does that, by extension, not demonstrate the importance of feeling, of understanding, of critical thinking, of self control? Perhaps the one thing this radical new society did take with them was that adage about repeating history, even as they wish to eliminate it, but it seems like that trace of history is ultimately more a burden to those who run the society than it is a benefit. Perhaps it's all better explained in Lowry's book, but in the movie it would seem like the best solution for the people who want to maintain the new status quo would be to "release" the giver, to use their parlance, and be done with every last little bit of connection to the past and ensure that there's nothing to lead them astray. It's a fun mind game, and it's a shame the movie doesn't better dig into it beyond whatever facilitates driving forward the story and a few action pieces in the third act.

Ultimately, and unfortunately, The Giver is better thought about than watched, more a springboard for ideas and deeper thought and less the bearer of pure philosophy. The film strives to engage its audience from the inside out, beginning with an emotionally driven and somewhat dark tale of far overreaching security and the absence of individuality and transform it into an Action movie by the end. It's also far too condensed at under 90 minutes runtime (minus credits) to really dig all that deeply into its complex themes. It scratches the surface and engages the audience but seems more content to tell the story rather than to build it, to show the characters rather than more densely shape them, to depict the world rather than define it. There's enough here to get the point across but little else. Neither the script nor the performers feel like they truly inhabit the world, and even if that's the point -- that they're more robot than human being -- there's an evident shallowness, a lack of real meaningful exploration, and Jonas' reality changes too suddenly and his moral compass aligns too quickly to really believe that his longtime vision of utopia could change on a dime, even considering his "gift" of feeling and seeing more than everyone else before being assigned to serve as the community's new historian. Again, it's a wonder someone who has been identified with what seem like unwanted gifts would be placed in charge of the one thing that could bring the entire society down. The performances are generally fine but lack the nuance the story demands, largely because the screenplay is spread too thin and the story too generalized to allow even great actors like Streep and Bridges to do much more than sleepwalk through the movie.

The Giver Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Giver's 1080p transfer offers a mixed bag of visual stylings. It's black and white, black and white with splashes of color, full color, and drained color. Yet no matter its coloring, the constant is a fairly flat but clearly defined HD video source. The colors change as the movie develops. They're rarely strikingly bold but do manage to satisfy with a good, even palette, natural flesh tone colorization, and well defined greens in the brightest outdoor moments. Image details are well defined and accurate under any color conditions. Facial hair is nicely textured and skin lines are noticeably lifelike. Environment details are shapely and sharp. Close-ups of trampled snow or a textured winter glove offer eye-catching fine detailing. Black levels are suitably deep and pure. There are a few soft, borderline smeary backgrounds in the film, and there's not much of a sense of shape or dimension, but overall this is a good, even transfer from Anchor Bay.

The Giver Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Giver offers Blu-ray listeners a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Crisp, accurate narration and firm, center-focused dialogue are the main components. Musical delivery is smooth and pleasing, with good balance throughout the range and a quality sense of space and immersion throughout the listening area. The track provides some light and moderately heavy sound effects throughout. Whether a creaking heavy wooden door, the immersive sounds of sailing or sledding, the terrifying sounds of war, rushing waters, or humming futuristic drones, there's a good sense of balance and potency when necessary. Backgrounds are rarely filled with location din, but the track does a fair enough job of basically defining any given area. Overall, this isn't a dynamic, record-breaking track, but it handles its material effortlessly and professionally.

The Giver Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Giver contains a script reading, featurettes, interviews, and even a study guide. Included in the Blu-ray case is a DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV digital copy.

• Highlights from the Original Script Reading Featuring Lloyd Bridges (480i, 39:47): Highlights from a reading of The Giver from nearly two decades ago and featuring a number of Bridges family members.
• Making The Giver: From Page to Screen (1080p, 21:39): A look at the challenges of getting the story to screen from time of the book's publication to now, the changing cinema environment that created an opening for the movie, the characters and the actors who portray them, story basics and themes, Phillip Noyce's direction, and more.
• Extended Scene (1080p, 9:23): Jonas' Harrowing Journey.
• Press Conference with Filmmakers & Cast (1080p, 35:31): A large panel including Lois Lowry, Jeff Bridges, Robert Weide, Phillip Noyce, Taylor Swift, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Cameron Monaghan, Emma Tremblay, Nikki Silver, and Michael Mitnick fields a number of questions. From New York on August 12, 2014.
• "Ordinary Human" Feature with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder (1080p, 2:43): The musician discusses his contributions to the soundtrack.
• Author Lois Lowry on The Giver (1080p, 3:35): The author discusses life events that shaped the story and things she would have changed in the original work.
• Study Guide (1080p): Viewers may select from several options and are presented with a scene synopsis, subjects and themes listings, references to where the scene may be found in the book, a teacher guide, and the option to play the corresponding clip from the film. Included are Jonas Receives His Assignment at the Community Ceremony, Jonas Receives the Memory of Color from The Giver, Jonas Struggles with Memories of Pain and Cruelty, and Jonas Asks His Parents About Love.

The Giver Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is pleasure in life worth the pain comes with it? Is life worth living if it's straight vanilla with no variety and practically no free will? How is "life" even living beyond the purest definition of the word when existence takes place in a vacuum where choice doesn't exist and turmoil has been forcibly removed from the equation? Perhaps The Giver's theme ought to be yet another popular adage, the one that says "you don't know what you've got until it's gone." That holds absolutely true here in a world where conformity has been forced and individuality taken away. It's a fascinating story that's unfortunately only moderately well done in film form. It's too condensed, too forced, too cliché in places, but it's delicious food for thought and much better in hindsight than it is up on the screen and in the moment. It's a worthwhile watch but those interested in the subject matter would probably be better off reading the book first. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of The Giver delivers satisfactory video and audio. There are several good supplements in support. Recommended as a compliment to the book.