newcastle-98902 Really disappointed with this Josh Hartnett is a great actor and has been great in Penny Dreadful But this is not a film for him, Terrible story line and low budget ... How did the ring end up in a ship for start. Josh Hartnett must have signed for this very drunk at a party me thinks to do this when his acting skills are so better than a film like this. Please Josh don't put us through this again!!!! Lets have more Black Hawk Down and Penny Dreadful as he is totally better than this production lots of silly mistakes and why make it worse by trying to make him Scottish some people can pull off accents but he cant he sounded a cross between a posh Irish/ Scottish man, Who's idea was that? So overall very UN impressed... Not again please JH

Carmen Vazquez First of all this film was beautifully done, it deserves the stars given. The music, the cinematography, and the acting were all done well (aside from a few minor and unnecessary scenes by supporting roles).The main disappointment with the story was the past and present coming together in a more fluid and fulfilling fashion. This is where the entire film seems to fault and lose a good deal of satisfaction. The story involves lovers in the past and lovers in the future. In the past the lovers only share a brief time together amidst much conflict. Their fate seems to be sealed from the beginning by visions of betrayal, death and a unique set of rings that intertwine into one ring. Many issues with the story arise in the transition of past to present and the meaning of the rings. Some questions seem to go unanswered if not viewed carefully. Having read some reviews it seems viewers overlook important details due to rapid scene changes and a constant search for significance. For example, it's easy to completely miss the explanation of how one half of the ring comes to rest at the bottom of the ocean in a metal snap purse with the initials D.E. engraved on it. The answer is actually mid story. The character named Dolly, played by Alice Englert, actually holds the purse in her hands while the camera quickly closes in for a brief closeup. There are the initials and the one hint that gets sadly overlooked because it seems unimportant at the time. But this hint is crucial for understanding how half of the ring is discovered in the future. There is also a bit of confusion regarding the rings. Initially they seem to relate to love that cannot be fulfilled due to the cursed nature of the visions shared by Tulaja, the lover from the past who is played by Bipasha Basu. At first the rings seem to betray the lovers. Later in the story the combined rings seem to bring good fortune due to their mystical powers which are never clearly explained. Granted in the end it seems the rings symbolize the complexity of love, at times difficult, binding and powerful. But the problem for most viewers may not be in the rings themselves or their meaning. The greatest conflict within the story seems to surround the fact that the characters played by Josh Hartnett both in the past and future don't end up loving the same woman. If the lovers were the same people throughout the entire time line the film may have received a better reception. As another reviewer mentioned, The Fountain (starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz), also explored a love across time. This story had a sense of closure and satisfaction because the lovers were the same in the past, present and future. The characters in that film came full circle. In The Lovers, they sadly do not reunite the way most wish them to. The female lover from the past appears in the distant future in a recognizable form only to give the other half of the ring to another woman who is in love with the possibly reincarnated version of her past lover. This creates a considerable amount of conflict. It leaves one wondering why one lover finds happiness and the other can't. Will he one day bring half of a ring to her future reincarnation to allow her the same happiness with another? One will never know. It's a very unselfish interpretation of love, which is why most people won't enjoy that outcome. Everyone wants the two lovers from the past to find each other in the end. That apparently wasn't the point. It's not hard to imagine that the writer's intention was to express that love, which can transcend time, will wait its turn. It's just not as satisfying for the general public who are used to two hour films with happy endings. This story bends the rules but it's done lovingly. Although I was left wanting closure I appreciated the attention to quality and wouldn't regard it a bad film because it didn't end the way I wanted it to. It was also nice to see Harnett again.

jerbearmane3 2nd review ever, only to shove it in all the pompous amateur critics on this site who almost made me turn away from this entertaining adventure-rom....yes not everything is spot on, mainly how the ring ended up on the ship....use your imagination folks, if any of these reviewers paid attention , the main characters brother was under his direct command .....ya so hard to figure out....disregard the other reviews who hate all but masterpieces...solid heartwarming movie with adventures action and drama...and the cinematography is breathtaking. must add....historical fans don't worry, the modern plot comprises 10 min or so of the movie and could have been left out...cheers to a farm in Massachusetts!

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Sadly, all the tragedy and drama in this 2015 movie did not really manage to escape the screen and really make me feel involved. "The Lovers" is Roland Joffé's newest work and I have to say I really enjoyed his "Killing Fields" and you may also have heard of or seen his film "The Mission". It's his first film in 4 years, but he turns 70 this year, so no surprise he's a bit on the slow side now, especially as he also wrote the script for "The Lovers" and it is only the third time in his long career that he has done so.The central character is played by Josh Hartnett, once a big rising star, but by now disappeared a bit. Here he returns to the big screen and I saw he is also currently playing in the successful television series "Penny Dreadful". I've never been too big on him in the past, but here he is okay and his performance is certainly not one of the major flaws of this movie. Tamsin Egerton is one of Britain's rising stars, but this film will probably not propel her career any higher right now. It's basically a film about the clash of two worlds: on the one side we have marine scientists today and on the other we have ancient India. The cinematography and costumes are fine, but story-wise I never felt a really well-done significant connection between these two at any point during these 110 minutes. That's why I cannot recommend this film. If you are interested in the topic, I suggest taking a look at Ben Kingsley's "The Physician" from 2013. It's Persia ad not India, but I thought this was very well done.