Creation

I remember a couple years ago when the movie "21" came out I thought it was OK, but it was too fictionalized.  The History Channel documentary about the real group of MIT students who learned how to fleece Vegas by counting cards was a lot more interesting because it was real instead of Hollywood-ized with cheesy plot twists and romances and stuff.  The same could be said of "Creation" where a biography of Charles Darwin would be a lot more satisfying because it wouldn't be as Hollywood-ized.

"Creation" doesn't focus on Darwin's entire life.  Mostly it focuses on when he's writing his blockbuster book "The Origin of Species."  For someone who changed the way many people see the world, Darwin was not a social crusader.  He was a shy, nerdy guy who lived in the English countryside with his many children and his wife Emma.  While Darwin is a scientist and has lost his faith in God, his wife is very religious.

As he begins his book, Darwin is beset with physical and mental problems.  His body is failing him with tremors and fevers.  At the same time he's haunted--literally--by the death of his daughter Annie, who shared Darwin's love of science.

Of course it's a foregone conclusion that Darwin writes his book and it's published.  How he manages to do this requires some pre-Freudian psychiatric help.

Anyway, as I said in the beginning, a documentary on Darwin would probably be more interesting and insightful.  Whether you believe in Creationism or evolution, there's not really anything here that will challenge your beliefs either way.  The story focuses mostly on Darwin getting his groove back, which is a shame because there's so much more depth and importance to his story and his work.

Paul Bettany does a good job though of presenting Darwin as a man who changed the world but didn't really want to.  His real life wife (as of the writing of this) Jennifer Connelly isn't given much to do as his wife except occasionally to question him.

Overall I'd say this is one you can miss.

That is all.

My score:  50/100 (2 stars)
Metacritic score:  51/100 (2 stars)