Tracing the origin of The Origin of Species produces the sort of stuffy biopic that once would have starred Paul Muni. Granted, in those days the achievement of Charles Darwin would not have been summed up in such bellicose terms as “You’ve killed God, sir,” and this alone may be sufficiently satisfying for the acolytes of Bill Maher. But the writing of a book, even one containing “the biggest single idea in the history of thought,” is inherently not a screen-friendly subject, and it will not be warmed up by exhibitionistic struggles with health and sanity, hallucinations, bad dreams, ghostly apparitions, laboratory specimens coming to life in their glass jars. And the climax where the conflicted naturalist leaves the fate of his book in the hands of his God-fearing wife is as hokey as it is unsuspenseful. Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, in those roles, submit graciously to Jon Amiel’s graceless closeups. Jeremy Northam, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch. (2010) — Duncan Shepherd
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