Doctor Perseus Reviews: "The Theory of Everything" · 5:53am Dec 3rd, 2014
The waits between each new season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Doctor Who can certainly be long and a bit tiresome to endure. And we still have quite a ways to go until we reach the Season 5 premiere of MLP, which will be in early 2015. So, in order to fill in the gaps, I've decided to write more reviews of other things aside from MLP and Doctor Who alongside the writing of my stories (which I shall be returning to quite soon as I have only one week left of the semester!) I've written a few miscellaneous reviews in the past but they're now going to become a whole lot more common. So let's officially kick this off with a review of a movie I just recently saw: The Theory of Everything!
The Theory of Everything tells the story of physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane Wilde from their meeting at Cambridge in 1968 to their divorce in 1995. As Stephen begins to become well-known for his ingenious theories, he and Jane face several hardships including parenthood, conflicting beliefs, attraction to others, and Stephen's motor neuron disease.
I'll start off by saying that the performances in this film were superb. Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones played Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde respectively and both were definitely the highlights of the film. The two shared a wonderful chemistry with each other from the get-go and seeing their relationship gain tension and ultimately fall apart was a depressingly realistic experience. Redmayne gave a powerful performance as Hawking. He accurately presented the pain one would feel from gradually losing control over their own body. The scene where Stephen and Jane decided that it was time to go their separate ways was definitely one of the film's greatest moments with tons of emotion and, again, outstanding performances from the two leads involved. Like Redmayne, Jones was fantastic. She gave a perfect performance as someone gradually becoming more and more stressed by a relationship and slowly losing interest in their partner in spite of them not wanting to. Ultimately, things do end on a more positive note for the couple with a heartwarming ending scene and a confirmation that the two remain close friends. The rest of the cast was also great and, as a Harry Potter fan, I was happy to see David Thewlis (Remus Lupin) playing Hawking's closest university professor/colleague.
Being a film about Stephen Hawking, science and theories are a huge focal point in the narrative aside from Stephen and Jane's relationship with Stephen coming up with greater and greater theories as he grows older. It really helps if you're interested in science (as I myself am) in order to take full enjoyment out of the moments where the film delved into Hawking's theories and the workings of things such as black holes and quantum physics.
Now, with Stephen Hawking being an Atheist and Jane Wilde being a Christian, talk of religion does come up quite a bit in the film. Thankfully, the film never lowers itself to a point of favoring one side over the other. The differing beliefs act as another factor of tension within Stephen and Jane's relationship but neither become annoying or overbearing about their beliefs. They state why they believe what they believe and love each other in spite of their differing beliefs. If anything, the only characters who become a bit snobby about their beliefs are Stephen's mother and sisters (who kind of tease her about being a Christian when they first meet her). Even Jonathan, a Christian musician in the film, remained respectful when Jane talked about Stephen using quantum physics to potentially "put God on the endangered species list". The film tackles the concept of differing religions in a very mature, respectful manner and should be commended for that.
The cinematography and soundtrack of the film are also something to be admired. There are several interesting camera shots and movements. One that I really enjoyed was a spinning upward shot of Jane walking up a spiral staircase. The music was also very well done and complemented the events in the film nicely. On another side note, I counted not one but TWO Doctor Who references! 
The first one is a "blink or you'll miss it" situation while the second is way more obvious. 
Overall, I really liked The Theory of Everything. It had outstanding performances, powerful emotion, great camerawork, great sound design, interesting science, and a mature look at conflicting religious beliefs. I give it a 9/10 and a solid recommendation!
Well, I for one look forward to seeing more reviews about other stuff from you.
I've heard of this film, but honestly Stephen Hawking has never really interested me.