Blah blah blah Lord of the Rings dude blah blah blah murdered child blah blah blah based on Alice Sebold’s bestseller blah blah blah…

The weight of sure-fire hit mix expectations and complex emotionally and intellectually stimulating source material should be enough to weight The Lovely Bones down in it’s grave, and after his giant monkey mis-step, it’s surprising and heartening to see Jackson deliver a mature fantasy thriller, although he struggles to keep multiple plot-threads from unravelling.

While not entirely successful, it’s testament to Jackson’s filmmaking skill that he manages to keep as many plates spinning as he does, Following sparky but idiotically named Teen Susie Salmon through the afterlife as she influences her family’s lives after neighbour George Harvey grooms and then murders her. Despite the heavy subject matter and 2-hour plus running time, the film carries it’s load lightly, flitting from teen romance to gripping police thriller, and taking a tour through a super-stylised expressionist purgatory that revels in glorious imagery.

While solid support comes from Weisz and Wahlberg as grieving parents, it’s Tucci’s turn as the meticulous killer that stands out. His mannered performance massively distanced from ER’s Dr. Kevin Moretti or any of his more usual light-hearted rom-com turns. The whole thing buries itself in the concept of world building, characters stacking their own odds, with the film moving into meta territory as Harvey rearranges his perfectly set out doll’s house, trapped through his inability to make the ideal setting real. While the Earthbound characters struggle with grief however, the afterlife is a vibrant, wonderful place full of startling imagery –the fleet of ships-in-bottles a particular standout – that ditches Sebold’s original concept in favour of a paean to filmmaking excess that deftly avoids falling into What Dreams May Come Territory and instead remains poignant without becoming sentimental or saccharine.

Saoirse Ronan - Intense, innocent and thoroughly believable.

That isn’t to say that Earthly matters take a back seat here however, as Rose McIver carries a brilliant, terse detective sequence, while there are fine turns from supporters like Susan Sarandon, and even Reece Ritchie manages to avoid the more typical Hollywood visions of Englishness as love interest Ray. In the lead, Saoirse Ronan is great. Intense, innocent and thoroughly believable as Susie, a heartbreaking mixture of naivety and assurance that perfectly captures the teenage condition.

If there are complaints, it’s that the murder itself is hardly depicted as a graphic act, being slightly rushed and while brooded on, it lacks the physical resonance captured in the book. Fortunately Jackson is skilled enough to realise that we don’t need excessive gore – a strange remark about the director of BrainDead to be sure – but instead concentrates on the far more distressing emotional trauma left in the act’s wake.

While not an unqualified success, The Lovely Bones is one of the most daring and captivating examples of filmmaking to hit screens in a long while and deserves every critical back slap and commercial dollar. A strong, inspiring and eminently watchable piece of cinema.