Plot summary (story synopsis): In the future, a small society lives in peaceful isolation atop a mountain plateau. There is no war, crime or even bad behavior. This is partly maintained by having everyone receive a daily injection of medicine that mutes their emotions. Drones patrol the skies, looking out for misbehavior. A council of Elders makes decisions for everyone. Including what clothes they wear, what time they have to be at home, their occupation and whether or not they receive babies.
Teenager Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is assigned to be the new Keeper of Memories at his coming-of-age ceremony. Unlike everyone else, he will be exposed to Earth's rich, wonderful, and violent history; so that he can advise the Elders. He receives one-on-one training from The Giver (Jeff Bridges).
Alternately delighted, shocked and overwhelmed by the history of mankind, he illegally shares his knowledge of fun with friend Fiona (Odeya Rush) and sister Lilly (Emma Tremblay). This worries his father (Alexander Skarsgård), mother (a no longer baby-faced Katie Holmes), and Chief Elder (Meryl Streep).
Jonas then realizes the horrific truth behind his ostensibly peaceful society, and decides to leave.
***
The Giver is a decent but unremarkable mix of THX-1138 (medicated, docile population) and Pleasantville (young rebel brings emotions to repressed Stepford Wives society). You can also throw in Logan's Run - secret euthanasia, and a reverse of The Village - high tech instead low tech road to paradise. Unfortunately The Giver is inferior to all of these movies.
Its plot is linear, with no major surprises - you can pretty much guess what is going to happen next, including the ending. Worse, its futuristic society is badly thought out and does not withstand serious scrutiny.
Based on the Young Adult novel by Lois Lowry, the movie has a target teen audience that probably won't mind. But it lacks the star power and action of Hunger Games or even Divergent. It probably isn't going to pull in much of a crowd. I have seen zero marketing for it. The first I heard of it was when a friend recommended it to me. Looks like the Weinstein Company isn't betting heavily on it.
The Giver's schmaltzy emotionalism and shallow social commentary is worthy of Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Host) but lacks Niccol's refined touch and glossy visuals. It looks more like a TV movie.
The cast is not the problem, with Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush looking good on screen and managing to gain the audience's sympathy. Jeff Bridges is convincing as the troubled, gentle and wise Giver. It's the sort of role he can play in his sleep. Meryl Streep is a bit understated as the evil Chief Elder, but then she usually is.
Verisimilitude and the voluntary suspension of disbelief, are big deals to me. The Giver fails in this because little thought was spent on designing a realistic scenario for its future society.
It falls into the common science fiction trap of having all sorts of cool futuristic gadgets, but lacks a population that is large enough to sustain the industries necessary to produce them. From the aerial shot of the settlement, there are at most 100,000 people (probably closer to 10,000) living in isolation. Yet they have electric bikes, drones, holographic projectors, solar panels - all the normal cliches of a futuristic society.
They also live in seemingly self-sufficient economic autarky, not needing to trade with anyone for raw materials or food.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Okay, let's accept the society as a given. Even then, the plot is full of holes. Why does passing the Border of Memory, automatically zap people with emotions and mankind's lost memories? Especially since they are still on medication? Why haven't any outsiders ventured into the border, or even right up to the settlement?
The best stories work because they are believable. Force-fitting a morality play onto an arbitrary science fiction future world isn't going to cut it. Director Phillip Noyce (Salt, Patriot Games, Rabbit-Proof Fence) should have passed on the script.
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