Taylor Mulcahy
Period: 2
AP Language and Composition
12 February 2012
The Vow Review
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, The Vow is the “perfect Valentine’s Day date movie” (Jim Ferguson). Michael Sucsy’s newly produced film; The Vow is a comical yet passionate portrayal of a love between two people. Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) leave the audience wanting the love that is demonstrated within the movie.
As Leo and Paige are riding home, they flirtatiously joke and laugh together in their car. Within moments, their whole world comes crashing down. As Leo and Paige are collided into from behind by a large truck, Paige is found catapulted through the front window and laid out on the front of the car. In that moment, Leo’s voice over explains, “Life's all about moments of impact, and how they change our lives forever” (The Vow Quotes).
Leo spends every waking hour in the hospital until his wife wakes up only to find that she does not remember anything, including the 4 years they had spent together. From what Paige knew, she was still in school studying law, still in touch with her family, and engaged to a man she broke up with during her college years. With the realization that Paige had not the slightest idea of who Leo was, Leo tried his hardest to bring back the woman he was so madly in love with through pictures, videos, and phone messages from their life together. As flashbacks throughout the movie are shown of the love the couple once shared, emotion and humor are utilized to represent the strongest form of a relationship between two people.
Throughout the span of the movie, the idea of the vows Paige and Leo made at their wedding are focused greatly upon in the hope of Paige regaining her memory. Through Leo’s persistence in trying to get his wife back, he lives by the vows he made to her, “I vow to love you, and no matter what challenges might carry us apart, we will always find a way back to each other” (The Vow Quotes). Although Paige tries her hardest to accept the fact that Leo was once the man she was married too, she has no choice but to live the life she remembers. The heart-wrenching emotions are apparent as Leo deals with the struggle of accepting the fact that his wife doesn’t remember who he is. Late in the movie Paige professes her opinion that she is tired of trying to remember who she was and that she hopes to one day love as Leo loves her. As Leo is shown, tears running down his cheeks, he is faced with the question, “How do you look at the girl you love and tell yourself it’s time to walk away?” (The Vow Quotes).
With a close relation to the well-known, adored movie The Notebook, The Vow is “destined to be a romantic classic” (Paige Wiser). Receiving 4.5 stars out of 5 by viewers, The Vow keeps the audience hooked throughout as the viewer’s crave for Paige to regain her memory and share the love with her husband that she once had so fervently (Movie Reviews). As Michael Sucsy used two of today’s most loved actors, Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, the movie becomes even more of a must-see. The passion and chemistry felt between the two actors make the love seem much more believable and realistic. Although such a move may be looked at as a cliché, The Vow is the exact opposite. Focusing on a true story between a man and a woman, Kim and Krickett Carpenter, who dealt with the struggle of the wife losing her memory and Kim, the husband working to get back the wife he once had, The Vow clearly and emotionally portrays such a powerful story between two real people.
With the definition of love being, “a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection” (Dictionary) The Vow exemplifies the definition with deep truth. With the portrayal of a love all people yearn for, The Vow expresses an exquisite and emotional story that is appreciated and respected by all.
Works Cited:
Ferguson, Jim. NY Times.
“Love”. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/love.
“The True Events that Inspired the Movie”. http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/books/products.asp?p=9781433675799. February 2012.
“The Vow 2012”. http://moviereviews.com/2012/The_Vow/. February 2012.
“The Vow Quotes”. http://www.lovequotestoday.com/2012/01/the-vow-quotes.html. February 2012.
Wiser, Paige. ABC Chicago.
“5 Reasons Why You Should See “The Vow” This Weekend”. http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2012/02/10/the-vow-review-rachel-mcadams-channing-tatum/. February 2012.
You did a really good job of explaining the plot of the story without giving it all away. It was really effective and interesting how you told a little bit of the storyline and then added in a quote from that part of the movie. However, I think you should've talked about the definition of love earlier in the piece. Overall, I believe it was very intriguing and well-written!
ReplyDeleteThis is a well written review. You add in a good summary of what happens in the movie without going to far into detail which leaves the reader intrigued to see the movie. Since this movie just came out it is difficult to evaluate it in a sense of it being the best. That is why I liked the path you took in evaluating it as more of what the movie does to its audience. Overall, it was a very good review, nice job!
ReplyDeleteThis review I think was very well written. The intoduction at the start of the review was very clever and was a good way to lead into the rest of the review. You gave a great summary and definition. Maybe add a rebutal to make it a little strong, but overall very well done!
ReplyDelete