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21 Grams presents the lives of three unconnected people: An ex-con (Benicio Del Toro) who has found God and now helps troubled adolescents; a college prof (Sean Penn) whose marriage is foundering and who, in more literal affairs of the heart, will die if he doesn't get a heart transplant, and soon; and a young woman (Naomi Watts) who has sworn off the wild life to become a loving wife and mother.
Tragedy brings these three into each other's lives. It's the process of getting to the how and why of that interconnection that's the interesting part of 21 Grams.
As he did in Amores perros, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu plays with time, moving back and forth easily between past and present.
The film has an immediate and fantastic element of dread about it. Between the tension created via hand-held camera shots and the tension inherent in the zig-zagging narrative, 21 Grams will initially make you hyperventilate.
And then there's the subject matter. Death is the real star of the film. This is a dark drama, albeit one about redemption, and all three characters must look at death and move on, if they can, from there. Death of self, death of others, death of conscience, death of dreams, death of belief system, death of love. This is not the feel-good movie of the month, people.
Can Watts recover from her loss? Will Penn die before he gets an organ transplant? How can Del Toro's character live with his decision?
Once you've slogged through all the painful sturm und drang of these characters' lives, the way they will be in each other's lives becomes obvious. And so do the improbable moves required of each character for the thing to wind up.
Trouble is, once you're up to speed on the narrative, all you can see is that there's a lot of acting going on in 21 Grams. Naomi Watts may not have the gravitas to pull off her character; Sean Penn has too much, and is happy to show it to you. Only Benicio Del Toro will get you to believe, but by the third act, not even he can get out of this one gracefully.
The film purports to be character-driven. It only pretends to be so. See it for the beauty of the first hour, but after that, well -- don't say you weren't warned.
(This film is rated 18-A)