The Descendants (2012) Movie Review

For a film that scored two Golden Globe Awards and nominated for five categories in the upcoming 84th Academy Awards, I just had to catch The Descendants when it came to our big screen. Thanks to Nuffnang and ChurpChurp, I had the opportunity to do just that, to catch the premiere screening of The Descendants over at GSC Tropicana City Mall.

The Descendants 2012

The Descendants Movie Tickets

Reaching Tropicana City Mall just in time for the ticket collection, I was pleased to meet up with the usual cheery Nuffies. It was definately a good feeling to collect my tickets from happy faces. After catching up with a few more blogger friends then it was off for some dinner at Igentis Cafe for dinner before the movie at 9pm.

The Nuffies and Churpies, all smiles (L-R Thara, Shah, Farah, Victor and Yen Ling)

Coming back to the award winning movie, The Descendants tells a story of a man Matt King (George Clooney) and his family who is undergoing a crisis where his wife Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie) just got into a boat accident and went into a coma. Everything is set in Hawaii, where the beaches are awesome with beautiful scenery and breezy winds. One would expect anyone living in Hawaii to be living in paradise without a care in the world. On the contrary, in The Descendants, we see the true lives of a family in turmoil trying to deal with a crisis.

George Clooney with his family plus a surfer dude friend of his daughter

Now Matt King not only has to deal with his dying wife, he has to come to understand both his daughters Alexandra "Alex" King (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie King (Amara Miller) in that difficult time. As the movie progresses on, we see George go through a lot of trouble and headache of dealing with the process of how to manage his daughters, how to manage his multimillion land inheritance with his cousins, and also to manage his wife who is beyond saving.

Matt King with his daughter and wife's parents

The Descendants brought its audience on a ride of emotions, from happiness, to uneasiness, to anguish, and sadness. It even took us into a situation where a husband who finds out his dying wife had an affair behind his back. Now what would a normal man do in that circumstance?

The Family

Thought provoking, and there were more than one tear jerking moment in the movie. Coupled with "Aloha" Hawaian songs in the background, only this movie can pull off what it did. I was pretty impressed with how the movie turned out, as any movie trying to go the same path might risk ending up as being slow moving and boring.

In The Descendants however, maybe due to George Clooney's charm on screen, we get absorbed into the whole Hawaiian settings while empathizing with the main character's predicament all the while wondering what will be his next step. I understand now how it can get nominated for so many awards in this upcoming Academy Awards. I'm not an expert in giving ratings, but for this movie I guess it's a 7/10 for me.

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