Wuthering Heights 2026 Film Review

It's sadly not unusual for well known books to get adapted over and over again as alot of them do have stories that can told over and over again. Whilst it could be argued that the same thing is also true for the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today this is a film that tries to be a good film and yet fails to do exactly that despite the fact that it has a talented group of actors in it and so then join me as I review the film that to be frank is just flat out bad for so many reasons with the film in question being called simply just "Wuthering Heights" enjoy.

The plot of this film is two child hood friends grow closer over the years and when they both fail to tell the other that they love them the two of them end up manipulating different people to get what they want. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well the in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with there not really being much in the way of plot to speak of so much so that it was hard to sort of summarize just what the plot of this film was even meant to be in the first place and whilst this isn't a bad thing as it's something that could also apply to alot of romantic period dramas as well it is something that makes the film come across as being all the more worse as now there's not much in the way of story and therefor there's not much of a reason for us the audience to keep on paying attention to the film in the first place granted tho this is something that might be more of an issue with the book then it is the film what is a big issue for the film in regards to it's plot is the fact that the film doesn't really give us a reason to care about the plot in the first place as the film is alot more focused on giving steamy scenes that feel out of place in a post Fifty Shades Of Grey World when it should have been more focused on giving us a more well thought out plot and not have the plot feel like an afterthought in the film with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is one of this films producers Margot Robbie as Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. Also starring in this film is Charlotte Mellington as Young Catherine Earnshaw , Owen Cooper as Young Heathcliff , Hong Chau as Nelly Dean , Vy Nguyen as Young Nelly Dean , Shazad Latif as Edgar Linton , Alison Oliver as Isabella Linton , Martin Clunes as Mr. Earnshaw , Ewan Mitchell as Joseph , Amy Morgan as Zillah , Jessica Knappett as Mrs. Burton , Millie Kent as Jane , Vicki Pepperdine as Sister Mercy and Paul Rhys as Heathcliff's Father.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well the in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As to be fair the films actors do turn in a good performance in this film with alot of them being perfectly well cast in the film however tho the issue stems from the fact that thy give us the exact performances that you think that they would give us and therefor we're not that surprised when we see them turn in a good performance with the only two surprising performances being from both Charlotte Mellington and Owen Cooper as nobody expects a child actor to turn in a good performance an yet that's exactly what they do in this film and heck both of them do have very bright future's ahead of them should they of course decide to continue in acting with the best actor in this film being both Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as they both do give us very convincing British accents despite the fact that they both Australian and while neither of them have any romantic chemistry with each other at all you do buy them as close friends with it being made clear as day that this films writer and director Emerald Fennell despite her apparently having read the book when she was a kid had no idea on how to talk to her actors which just leaves them feeling lost and unsure of themselves alot of the time with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to lower the overall quality f the acting that's in this very film.

Character wise the film doesn't fair all that much better either as to say that this films characters are an insult to Emily Brontë would be a huge understatement. As all of this films characters come across as being really unlikable characters with both of the lead characters manipulating other characters in order to get what they want which is something that doesn't make them likable people with it instead making them characters that you want to see end up unhappy at the end of the film with none of this films characters having anything about them that makes them interesting characters as we don't get find out anything about them at all with the makers of this film instead being alot more focused on giving us nice almost gothic like visuals then it is in giving us more well thought out characters with this being something that would cause Emily Brontë to turn in her grave as while yes she only wrote the one book she came from a very famous line of writers with her sisters all writing very well known books which does mean that she would have learnt how to create good an interesting characters something which the makers of this film quite clearly didn't do as there's nothing redeemable about these characters due to the fact that the makers of the film don't bother to show us anything redeemable about them something which they should have done as that would have made us the audience care for these characters and yet for one reason or another they instead chose not to that and while this is fine for the lesser characters like for example Mr. Earnshaw as he's basically a side character anyway it's not that fine for Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw as she is a character that us the audience are meant to route for and yet the film does her and Heathcliff so dirty by not giving us a reason to route for either of them.

 

This film is of course adapted from the book of the same name which was written by Emily Brontë and was published in 1847. After just very quickly glancing at the books Wikipedia page the film does seem to leave out quite a bit from the book whilst also making some pointless changes to the book as well with the film following in the tradition of all adaptations of the book by leaving out the story of the kids that both couples end up having which is a shame as that is something that would be a great hook for any future adaptation to have and making changes like Cathy being attacked by the Linton's dog which then leads to them taking her into there home which is more realistic then how they do it in this film and Cathy's father even remarries and has a son of his own with the brother that Cathy mentions at the start of the film being very much alive and well in the book and is called Hindley whilst alot of adaptions do make changes to the source material alot of which does get alot of hate by fans of the source material here it is something that does make sense as there's no way that you could cram all this plot and all of these characters into one film as it would be a bit much and you can't ask your audience to go and see a two part romance film as those just aren't done and therefor the only thing that the makers of this film did have do was make changes to make the story of the book fit into one film which does mean that we don't get an opening prolog and epilogue with a stranger talking to Nelly as that's not something that adds to the plot of the film and while it would have been interesting to see the film adapt the kids story as there romance does read as being genuinely sweet there's no way that you could cram it into this film without doing harm to that plot either.

If your going into this romance film expecting there to actually be some romantic type scenes between the characters then prepared to be let down. As the characters in this film share exactly zero romantic scenes together which makes it pointless to call this romance film as the film is instead alot more focused on being a drama then it is in being a romance and given that the film is based off of a romance novel then it would make more sense for the film to have these romantic scenes with the characters even if the characters aren't openly confessing there love for each other at that point in time as that would then help us the audience to understand that Cathy and Heathcliff are infact falling in love with each other where as in the film it all happens off screen which isn't romantic as the whole point of a romance film is to show us these two characters that we want to see end up together slowly falling for each other and when you rob us of that what your basically left if is a drama film and one that's not that good at even being that but to give the film credit tho the film is more about the lengths that one is willing to go to prove that you love someone as we see both Cathy and Heathcliff go to these extreme lengths even to the point of basically torturing the other to prove how much they love each other with them even pulling in two innocent people in Edgar Linton and Isabella Linton and basically doing damage to them in the process and while the book does somewhat show Isabella getting her own form of payback on Heathcliff as she does have his son that comes back into the story in a major way here in the film she almost gets forgotten about with Edgar being the more important of the two characters and even then that's not saying all that much either as they don't get the chance to prove how much they love there respective partners in the film which only hits home the fact that this film is just a flat out bad romance film.

To be fair to this film the film does have alot of really pretty shots and sets in it with the film really taking full advantage of the fact that it was filmed on location in the Yorkshire Dales. Which does result in us getting some really pretty shots of the hills with that adding to the films more gothic looking sets all of which do look really good with this being something that's not really all that surprising as the film did cost $80 million American dollars to make and while you really can't see where the money went that high price tag does result in the film looking very visually stunning however with that said tho this film does feel like that it would have been better if it was a TV show as then you would have had the time to build up the romance between Heathcliff and Cathy thus making it all the more believable when she does say that she loves him and with the film taking a more episodic approach to it's storytelling due to the fact that the film does leap forward in time a few times it would have made sense to make this version of the story into a TV show and yet for one reason or another the makers of this film thought that it was better to make it as a film and while yes this film will make money at the box office due to the fact that it was released a day or two before Valentines Day that doesn't mean that it was right to make this is a film as a film as you could have gotten some really strong ratings if you released this show as a weekly hour long show with this being something that would have helped to make certain things about the film be both more tragic when it comes to the characters but also be more better done due to the fact that they would have had more time spent on developing them with this proving that just because you can make something into a film doesn't always mean that you should.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and eight minuets and fifty three seconds. Which is a fairly solid running time for the film as the film does need that amount of time in order to tell it's story what little there is in that amount of running time it would do more harm to the story if this film was shorter with the film just about having the right amount of plot there in the first place to cover that amount of running time and yet at the same time the film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with it seeming like the characters are just doing things for random reasons and with the film having the characters saying that they've progressed instead of outright showing us how they've progressed with the film being more focused in showing us these really unlikable characters then it is in giving us plot development that would help to make the film all the more better with the same thing even being true for the films characters as none of them get any kind of character development and whilst this is no doubt because of the fact that the film changed alot of things from the book the film doesn't replace those things with scenes that still manage to get across just what it is thar makes there characters tick as we get to find out nothing about this films characters this is despite the fact that the film has alot of time to help fully develop them and yet they choose not to do any of that which just leaves us with these really bland characters that we know just as much abut coming out of the film then we did coming into the film but In really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a drama  that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented tot us in this very film was in all honest just OK at best. As while the film does try to give us some good drama it just can't do that due to the fact that all of the films characters are just so unlikable in the first place which makes any kind of drama that could be had between any of the characters seem pointless as we the audience just don't like these characters in the first place whereas if the makers of this film did choose to give us some likable characters then the drama would have worked all the more better as us the audience would have had the chance to decide on if we like this characters and want to see them succeed with the film not really having a scene that could be considered the best piece of drama in the film as due to the film making alot of cuts to the book it does mean that drama that might very well have been better built up in the book here feels rushed with it feeling like the film is just rushing along it's plot points when going slower would have worked with the drama aspect with this being another reason as to why this film would have worked better as a TV show as then the drama could be built up either over the course of the episode or over the course of the series which would have the adverse effect of making the drama all the more impactful whereas here in this film it really can't do this is despite the fact that the film frees up some running time by not focusing on it's romantic aspect but when the films drama does get good it can be really good as there is a scene near the end which is good drama wise but isn't as good as it should have been in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall it doesn't really need to be said but avoid this film even if you have a loved one that wants to go and see just go and put on one of the other countless adaptations of the book as nine times out of then they will be alot more better then what this mediocre film could ever hope to be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.