.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

The 2009 Toronto International Film Festival announced Creation as their opening night, gala presentation. The announcement was met with controversy, but not where you might think. The Toronto International Film Festival usually opens with a Canadian feature. Opening the prestigious fest with a foreign film that is a bio-pic of Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution was not an expected option.

That didn't stop hundreds of suit wearing theatre patrons from attending the opening night ceremony and event premiere. But when the film was over, the response was lackluster and by the time the lights went dim on the two week festival, Creation was left without a distribution deal.

Starring real life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin (Charles married his cousin and they bred ten children together). Creation was expected to be controversial as it portrays Darwin pursuing his scientific theory which conflicts with the teachings and beliefs of the world's religions.

Darwin's theories, then as they are now, were not universally accepted or appreciated. From the village preacher to his own wife, the theory of evolution causes great turmoil and conflict for both Darwin and his family.

Not all with knowledge of Darwin's hypothesis were opposed. Some see it as an opportunity to bring down the church and their stronghold on the people and parliament. But with religion a strong institution during the mid-1800, Darwin's supporters were far in minority to his detractors. And his struggles to fight popular and religious belief would drive him further into his research while driving Darwin down a path to madness.

Unfortunately, Creation plays out like a High School lecture on the topic. It is opinionated and boring. More the later as hardly anything remarkable or insightful occurs through Darwin's work and journey of discovery.

Bettany and Connolly do their best in the respective roles, but director Jon Amiel (The Core), has little to work with in the script by John Collee. Maybe if the film focused more on evolution and not on Darwin's mental state that turns for the worse after the death of his 10-year-old daughter, there would be something a viewer can grip onto for involvement in the 108-minute feature.

What we are left with is a mish-mash of tedium and self discovery about a man that many of us know in name, but not in character.