By: James Southworth
Rating: 1.5/5 Stars
There are so many Christmas classics out there that resonate with people. I've always felt that the most primary of them is "A Christmas Carol". The novel by Charles Dickens is a timeless masterpiece, with a message that is relevant no matter what time period. Christmas can bring about emotions of redemption for even those who seem too far gone, those like Ebenezer Scrooge. Characters such as Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit are practically synonymous with the cheerful holiday spirit at this point, and for good reason. There have been multiple adaptations of the novel, with them being in a range of quality. My personal favorites are the one with Patrick Stewart and the ingenious Muppets version. Even for the weaker versions of the film, generally all have changed very little about the source material. Director Nick Murphy and Steven Knight released a miniseries on FX this year, and man did the trailers for this make me concerned. First of all, it looked like the film might be a little too dark, and also for some reason characters were dropping hard f-bombs in the trailer as well. All my worries- and more- were confirmed when I watched this miniseries all together. Even though it starts off promisingly, more often than not the 2019 adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" spits in the face of Charles Dickens's novel, and in the face of everyone who loves the themes the book has to offer. If you want to watch the series, then don't read this review, as there will be spoilers.
Like I mentioned, the miniseries starts off pretty interesting. I am not necessarily a book purist; I have said this in reviews before. I am totally open to an adaptation changing things up, so long as they are not completely dishonoring the source material. For the most part, I felt that the first episode of the miniseries paid tribute to the source material while also adding some interesting updates. For example, we actually see Bob Marley, Scrooge's business partner, coming back to life while in his grave. In this series, he's not technically a ghost, but rather someone stuck in purgatory. We even get to see him go to a sort of purgatory, where he meets a man who was a victim of Scrooge and Marley's corrupt business movies. The man hands Marley his chains, telling him they represent every person who died in a mining accident due to Scrooge and Marley making monetary cuts that made the mine less safe. I thought it was interesting to begin the series like this, establishing a darker tone. It didn't feel too far removed from the creepiness of parts of the novel. As a whole the performances in this series are pretty solid. I actually think Guy Pearce is great as Scrooge. He offers a new portrayal, making Scrooge a bit of a philosophizer in the process. Pearce lets the audience see a bit more into Scrooge's thought process of the human condition. I have many problems with Scrooge as a character in this adaptation (more on that later), but Pearce is quite good in shouldering this interpretation. My favorite aspect of this series was definitely Andy Serkis as The Ghost of Christmas Past. This is perhaps the most chilling and intriguing interpretation of this ghost I've ever seen. It's clear Knight had some of the most interesting ideas with this character, which is definitely why this ghost is the one we spend a whole episode with, whereas the Ghosts of Present and Future are split up in one episode. Vinette Robinson is shouldered with the thankless role of Mary Crachit, but still does really well despite the awfully written character she has to deal with. Lenny Rush's portrayal of Tiny Tim was genuinely sweet and heartfelt, and probably the character that was the closest to belonging in a faithful adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". There were a couple of interpretive choices I liked. The first episode of this series brings some lines directly from the text into the movie, which made this part of the series feel the most like I was actually watching "A Christmas Carol". There are some scenes where the writers do a good job of really going there in regards to the dark tone, so I'll commend them for that. I also actually found the decision to make the Ghost of Christmas Present be Scrooge's sister a pretty interesting one. It worked because this Ghost is meant to be the most comforting presence to Scrooge in a way.
Now that I've brought some of my positives into the light, it's time to get into the numerous problems I had with this series. Even though I did overall like episode one, there were still some things that were already standing out to me as worrisome. For one, there are some pretty long-winded scenes of Marley interacting with the Ghost of Christmas Past. These scenes really drag and ultimately don't add much to the story. Also, apparently, Marley's own redemption is tied to Scrooge's. This made no sense to me. I understand that the characters worked together, but wasn't the purpose of the original Marley to serve as a warning to Scrooge? That if Scrooge didn't change, he would be bound as a wandering spirit with chains to remind him of all the evil he did? Scrooge's redemption meaning that Marley would be redeemed puts an extra bit of responsibility on Scrooge that I'm not sure was necessary. Also, apparently the Ghost of Christmas Past does not really care whether Scrooge changes his ways or not. Apparently, his only reason for haunting Scrooge is because he wants to see whether it's possible for it to happen. That makes even less sense to me. If the Spirits do not care about Scrooge's redemption beyond just a feigning interest of whether it's possible, then why on earth are they haunting him? The only Ghost that seems to care is the Ghost of Christmas Present, but apparently it's only the Ghost of Christmas Future who gets to decide whether Scrooge is redeemed or not. But then, the story decides at the end that it is Scrooge's decision as to whether he deserves redemption or not. In every other "Christmas Carol" adaptation, this is the case. In this one, it seems to make this decision very last minute, so Scrooge getting to choose feels unearned and a little sloppy. Even though I like the idea of the Ghost of Christmas Present being Scrooge's sister, not a whole lot of interesting stuff is done with the idea. The Ghost of Christmas Future is for some reason shown as a human entity, when I thought the whole idea behind him was for him to not have a face and be shrouded in mystery, like the future. That doesn't mean he has to look like the Grim Reaper, but I don't think he should look like a human either. For as much as I don't really enjoy the Jim Carrey version of "A Christmas Carol" anymore, that one had a good idea of changing the Future ghost to being Scrooge's shadow. This still kept the Ghost a mystery- and most importantly, not human. The miniseries's interpretive choice was one of the weirdest.
There are other choices made here that are far worse, more for the reason that they are offensively executed or they contradict everything about Dickens's novel. A lot of them revolve around Scrooge himself. Now clearly, in the beginning parts of the story, Scrooge is not meant to be likeable. In fact, in most movie adaptations it's not until around the Ghost of Christmas Present that you start to sympathize with the present version Scrooge. The idea of the Ghost of Christmas Past is that you see Scrooge at a time when he was sympathetic. In Steven Knight's version, I could hardly ever find a shred of sympathy for Scrooge. This Scrooge isn't just a bitter, miserly man. This Scrooge is a bitter, miserly man who is also a sociopath and a monster. When the Past Ghost shows Scrooge the mining accident that killed so many people, Scrooge doesn't even shed a tear. The beginning of this series establishes that Scrooge is actually aware of Tiny Tim being severely crippled and close to dying. As far as I'm aware, no other movie adaptation has done this. This version decides that Scrooge doesn't care about Tim's condition even when he knows about it. Any other version of Scrooge is undeniably bitter, but all the other versions of Scrooge didn't know about Tiny Tim, and when they do find out, they are actually concerned about whether he survives or not. Guy Pearce's Scrooge seems more sad about horses dying in a mining incident than about Tiny Tim's tragic illness. This made me actively hate Scrooge pretty much my whole time watching the film. You're not supposed to hate this character the whole time. The Ghost of Christmas Past is meant to show you times when Scrooge did have the Christmas spirit. Instead, this one makes the ill-advised decision to have Scrooge's dad- and Scrooge's school teacher- be sexually abusive to Scrooge. It's only when Scrooge is saved by his sister that he escapes this abuse. In this version, his dad never becomes a better person, and his sister holds up a gun to the teacher warning him to never touch Scrooge again. Yeah, that's what we're dealing with here guys. A child holding up a sexual abuser at gun point. Does this sound like "A Christmas Carol" to you? Because it sure doesn't to me. Even in his past, we never see Scrooge truly happy at any point in this story. There's no point where he's a redeemable character. His only shred of sympathy is his abusive past, and even then, Scrooge grows up to be abusive himself.
Those aren't even the worst choices in this interpretation. Most of the absolute worse come in the interactions between Scrooge and Mrs. Cratchit. Yeah, for some reason, this story decides to make her a bigger character, and in the process actually disservices the character and the great actress playing her. There is a scene that the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge where Mrs. Crachit comes in to ask him for money to help with an operation on Tiny Tim. Scrooge proceeds to toy with her in a pretty monstrous manner that I don't think even the worst of past Scrooge iterations would do. Ultimately, it seems like Scrooge is saying he will give her the money if she has sex with him. This was the first point in the movie where I became angry. How are we supposed to even want Scrooge to be redeemed at this point? Mrs. Cratchit proceeds to come to Scrooge's house on Christmas Day and take her clothes off; all the while Scrooge is belittling her. After most of her clothes are off and she is left in a vulnerable position, Scrooge says that he actually wasn't going to have sex with her; he was just wanting to see how far she would go. He lets her have the money anyway. Then, she proceeds to tell him that because she is a woman, she has the power to call upon spirits to haunt him. This is the point where this miniseries pretty much lost me. So, Mrs. Cratchit out of all people is the one who causes Scrooge to get haunted? Wow, that is dumb. Also, this sexually abusive situation felt like a way for Steven Knight to say, "See? This isn't your grandpa's 'A Christmas Carol'. This one's SUPER dark and edgy!". By forcing these gross scenes in, you're actually reducing the story of its edge and instead leaving people feeling disgusted by what they just saw. The feminist angle with Mrs. Cratchit (and to a certain degree Scrooge's sister Lottie) is really ham-fisted and lacks sincerity. It seems like Knight wants people to cheer for him for bringing this arc in when it contributes exactly nothing to the central story. Finally, this might seem like a petty criticism, but dropping f-bombs in this series feels wildly unnecessary to me. Maybe one effectively placed one could've worked. The excessive amount placed in this interpretation clearly told me that Knight thought this was such a subversive and dark thing to do to "A Christmas Carol". Give me a break. It's childish and idiotic.
The series ends on quite the mind-boggling note. After a very underwhelming interaction with The Ghost of Christmas Future, (which in almost any other Christmas Carol has always been my favorite part of the film), Scrooge decides that he does not deserve redemption or forgiveness. I would actually agree in this version, because he's an absolute monster. But then, suddenly it seems like the series decides he actually is redeemed? Because he starts talking and saying "Merry Christmas" to people in a similar manner to other ACTUALLY redeemed Scrooges. This doesn't feel remotely earned, as to me, it seems like this Scrooge still wouldn't dare to utter those words given how sociopathic he is. He proceeds to visit the Cratchits, and of course they aren't happy to see him. Scrooge offers Bob a lot of money, but that's about all he does in terms of making things right with him. It's clear that in sentiment he still does not truly have the Christmas spirit. Mary proceeds to kick Scrooge out of the house, then weirdly says to the spirits that they are not done yet. What is that supposed to mean? That the spirits will continue to haunt Scrooge? Or is it a form of breaking the fourth wall? Whatever the case, the movie ends out on that awful note, and I was left infuriated by what I had just watched. For as many problems as I have with Robert Zemeckis's version of "A Christmas Carol" I would watch that version in a heartbeat over what Steven Knight brought us. This movie puts on the front of being dark and subversive, and in the process it disrespects what is one of the best Christmas stories out there. There are a lot of stories out there that could benefit from a dark interpretation, but this is not one of them. Let this story be. Don't watch this. It's not worth it.
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