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Dorian Gray is a decent, workmanlike film that never threatens to be anything approaching great but passes the time effectively enough. It just kind of sits there, content with its own existence and never trying to do anything to lift itself beyond the mundane. Based on the classic Oscar Wilde tale The Picture of Dorian Gray about a rich young nobleman who is rendered immortal when his soul is transferred to the titular painting (which ages grotesquely as the years pass, it's a story that involves much sex and debauchery, as well as the occasional murder. The film does not shy away from such content - indeed there are a couple of surrealistic, dreamlike orgy sequences where little is left to the imagination - but instead of taking advantage of the grimly Gothic tone of the tale, director Oliver Parker brings little to no creativity to the party. The likes of, say, Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam could have a field day with the material, but in Parker's hands it feels oddly flat and lifeless.
Nevertheless, it's by no means a dead loss (to continue this review's inadvertent but appropriate references to mortality). In terms of production design and location work, nobody could accuse the film of failing to pass muster. The grimy, cramped alleys of Jack the Ripper-era Whitechapel are presented excellently in some nicely textured sets, while it's also quite evident that the film uses some actual London streets rather than the usual Prague/eastern Europe stand-ins. Some effectively subtle and relatively seamless CGI is used to complete the historical world-building. A jump in time at the end of the second act that could have spelt disaster for any dramatic momentum is achieved cleverly entirely in the visuals without any caption, as horse-drawn carts give way to early motor vehicles. It's a rare touch of invention.
The last Narnia film's Prince Caspian, Ben Barnes, is solid in the title role. He seems more suited to embodying the wide-eyed innocence the character possesses initially rather than the unfulfilled emptiness of his later life, but Barnes looks the part and holds the attention. Colin Firth is the other headliner in the cast, and delivers a performance symptomatic of the film as a whole: satisfactory but unremarkable. There's simply so little style or flair on show in the direction and camera placement that the film feels largely devoid of any distinctive character or memorable attributes, which is not helped by erratic and mostly sluggish pacing. That said, there's nothing offensively poor about the film, and it's all delivered with overall professionalism and technical accomplishment.
The summary
A fairly entertaining descent into the macabre, Dorian Gray is just lacking in any distinguishing features, as well as the caustic wit of Oscar Wilde.
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