Having seen the trailer for The Great Gatsby, which plays like a pretentious R&B/Rap video, one can be forgiven for entering the cinema with fairly low expectations of this adaptation of the American literary classic. Was this to be another flashy, CGI laden, piece of film making folly, all style, no substance? It teeters on the brink at times, as the occasionally over the top set plays threaten to drown the heart of the movie in a soup of visual trickery, modern music and rather out of place slow motion violence. However, the film does manage to remember that at it's heart is the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, constantly referring back to the book almost word for word at times. This, combined with some notable lead performances, serves to save the film from itself.
