The Descendants is a touching, yet slow-moving film. It stars George Clooney as Matt King, a man who has just found out that his wife was in a boating accident and is now in a coma. What makes matters worse for Matt is that the marriage was not in great shape before the accident, and now he realizes that he needs to be a better husband. Unfortunately, it might be too late.
The movie takes place in Hawaii where Matt is a wealthy lawyer with hereditary ties to thousands of acres of land there. He is the sole trustee to this large plot of land and is deciding who to sell it to, or whether to sell it at all. It seems that most of the local Hawaiians see it as a beautiful untouched piece of land and would prefer that it not be sold, as any potential buyers could make it a less beautiful place in their eyes.
But Matt is more concerned with other issues once he finds out that his wife had actually been having an affair. He discovers this news from his own daughter. She even tells him who she was having the affair with. While The Descendants moves at a slow pace, it does keep you wondering what will happen if Matt decides to confront the guy. He begins to follow the man but always seems hesitant to actually say something to him. He’s probably not sure whether to punch him or just talk to him, or at least let him know that the woman he was seeing is now in coma and may never come out of it.
In addition to the slow pacing of the film, it even has a very mellow score with light Hawaiian music playing throughout many scenes. It’s a decent story about family which involves a father now trying to take care of his daughters on his own; but it can be boring at times, especially upon second viewing I’d imagine. And by the time Matt must make a decision about selling the land by the end of the film, we’re just not that interested. That just seems to be a little side-story which the audience really won’t care about. There’s has been a lot of talk about this movie being the front-runner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I’ve already seen some better movies this year though. Still, it’s got some very good acting by George Clooney along with others in the film and it’s worthy to check out if you’re in a relaxing state of mind.
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