DORIAN GRAY

Sure, Dorian Gray is famous for being a pretty-boy blank slate, but when all the other actors act circles around him, he doesn't make for a very compelling lead.

Imagine, for one, that you are supremely beautiful (which most of us, admittedly are not). You also have youth, which is hungered after by all of society. If you were lucky enough to have this most magical combination of blessings by sheer luck, would you sell your soul to the devil to stay this way forever?

This umpteenth adaptation of Oscar Wilde's famous story stars Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) as the titular beautiful young lad, and Colin Firth as Lord Henry Wotton, the man who offers him the apple of eternal youth. Dorian is a dandy of a young man in Victorian England, coming upon the wealth of his family when his is still bright-eyed and rather innocent. Immediately surrounded by elder vultures like Lord Henry, you just know that the attention and fawning will soon corrupt, but in Wilde's story, corruption is taken to a whole new level.

Dorian Gray becomes captivated by a painting of himself by the artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin). Sensing this, Lord Henry plants the idea eternal youth, and Dorian quickly agrees: "For this—for this—I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give!" How this works is a little unclear. Is Lord Henry the devil himself? Or is the devil hanging out in the painting, or perhaps the parlour, waiting for the magic words to be uttered so he can grab the boy's soul? Needless to say, going forward Dorian doesn't age, and realizing this, he seduces and sadistically uses others get literally anything he wants. He quickly staggers into the world of excess, becoming a cruel vain man, completely losing innocence, compassion, and kindness. But he is still stupendously beautiful... because all of his sin is being absorbed in the canvas of the painting, now hidden, hissing and moaning, in the attic.

Dorian Gray, the character, is presented as a bit of an empty shell. He is untainted when discovered in his youth, so it is immediately evident that the most dominant outside influences will shape and mold him. Colin Firth is a breath of fresh (or maybe rancid) air when he shows up in his devilish beard and chews scenery as the smarmy and lippy Lord Henry. The fact that he acts circles around pretty Ben Barnes doesn't help when Barnes is left alone to carry his own scenes. Even underused Ben Chaplin is a more interesting and sympathetic character than Dorian in his few scenes. By the time Rebecca Hall shows up as an intelligent and trusting "modern" woman, you realize that poor Dorian is the least interesting part of the film.

But that is not to say that the movie is not watchable. The story is classic for a reason: the idea of getting everything you want, but for a huge price, is one that will always captivate audiences (and readers). This version also ups the ante with a bit more explicit violence and sex than previous versions. The production itself looks great, and, like I said, the supporting cast is intriguing, despite dull Ben Barnes. Just don't be too captivated by the beauty of this Dorian. As in real-life, the grittier flawed characters prove to be much more interesting than those that only have beauty on the surface.