This weekend, Paul Bettany is set to incur the wrath of the film gods. Moviegoers everywhere will be assaulted by the formerly sought-after actor in “Legion,” while those of us in big cities will be bored to death by the limited release of his heavy-handed drama “Creation.” Looks like it’s a good time to live in the middle of nowhere.
Based on the life of Charles Darwin, “Creation” deserves some credit for telling what may be an unpopular story as conservatives try to retake their hold on America. The film had a notoriously difficult time finding a distributor and eventually settled on Newmarket Films, who seem to be using their “Passion of the Christ” money to fund more liberal projects like this and “Death of a President.” With its release in the midst of the January doldrums (versus a planned Christmas 2009 date), “Creation” missed the marketing opportunity of opening last year, the 200th anniversary of the naturalist’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “On the Origin of Species.” But it’s not the film’s progressive, 19th-century ideas that were holding it back from bigger and wider distribution; its the fact that it’s a dull, dour drama that promises to offend everyone, regardless of creed, with its poor construction.
Bettany stars as the famed writer who labors over his manuscript for “On the Origin of Species.” His wife, Emma, is played by Jennifer Connelly, turning the real-life couple into an on-screen one. Charles and Emma are divided not only by his radical thesis but also by the death of their ten-year-old daughter, Annie (newcomer Martha West). Charles wrestles with the impending consequences of his book’s ideas, and his wife warns him of their effects. He can no longer sing along with “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (with the lyrics “The Lord God made them all,” for the non-churchgoing folk in our audience), and when Reverend Innes (Jeremy Northam, “The Tudors”) begins reading from Genesis, Charles leaves church. “You have killed God, sir,” his colleague Thomas Huxley (Toby Jones, “W”) congratulates Charles who nearly collapses in response. Subtlety abounds here.
However, his personal struggles with grief threaten his professional contributions. He is at once haunted and reassured by lifelike memories of his young daughter, whom he talks to and confides in. He worries those around him, and his manuscript sits unfinished as he has restless evenings filled with nightmares. Some biopics can move past the lack of suspense since we already know how history unfolds, but there’s little drama in “Creation.” We know that *spoiler alert* Charles finishes his manuscript and submits the book for publication, it goes on to change the world, blah blah blah. The Darwin of history seems far more interesting than he is portrayed here, despite the efforts of the cast.
Bettany does a great job shedding his leading-man looks for the most part, adding mutton chops and a receding hairline. It’s an almost distracting change, but he does inhabit the role fully. The larger question is what has happened to the actor’s career and sense of taste? There’s definitely a draw to playing such a historical giant, but the script should’ve steered him elsewhere. Though he had worked with acclaimed directors such as Peter Weir and Lars Von Trier, the last five years have brought films such as “Wimbledon,” “Firewall,” and “The Da Vinci Code.” Despite his bad taste in work, he shares some particularly nice moments with Connelly here, and she makes the most of a supporting role. Northam, Jones, and costar Benedict Cumberbatch (“Atonement”) all add to the film, but there’s little anyone can do to save the bad script and direction.
Based on the biography by Randall Keynes, the script from John Collee (“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”) is no better, relying too heavily on Charles’s disturbing dreams (featuring screaming specimens) and his memories, rather than the present. There are flashbacks within flashbacks, which works for “How I Met Your Mother,” but it just makes the proceedings here even weightier. “The Core” director Jon Amiel tries to add some style to the proceedings, beginning with the film’s opening credits, which merge the expanse of space into sperm and then into an embryo. There are naturalistic explorations using time-lapse photography, but it feels like the sort of thing you’d sleep through in a high school biology class. Just like the rest of the film. [D-]