Idris Elba is a dominant screen presence who brings enormous charisma to every role he takes — but even the great ones can have a couple of misfires in a row. Elba is 0-for-the-last-2-weeks with the ludicrous African safari adventure “Beast” and now the ambitious but off-putting and meandering “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” in which Elba plays essentially a genie who emerges from a bottle and grants three wishes to Tilda Swinton, and it’s my wish the first wish had been for a more cohesive screenplay.
The venerable director George Miller (the “Mad Max” movies, “Babe,” “Happy Feet”) delivers a strange and semi-wondrous tale brimming with unimpressive special effects and thinly drawn supporting characters.
