Media itt: movie/film discussion - Beware Spoilers

I wouldn't go that far, I thought it was fantastic but didn't quite live up to the first Avengers. I thought that the segment from just after the introduction to Ultron until the beginning of the third act was somewhat lackluster though still more than viewable watching. Third act was balls to the wall amazing holy shit. Basically the events leading to the creation of Vision and everything following was edge of your seat incredible. Speaking of, that hammer scene with Vision OMG
I thought AoU was far superior to the first Avengers. The first Avengers was quite sluggish and had a very uninteresting first half, basically relying on the wow-factor of bringing all the superheroes together; which is badass, but doesn't make a good film. Second AoU had more room for entertainment and emotional depth due to the characters already being established (though still had to jarringly set up Phase 3 (Thor: Ragnarok with the water cave for example)). If anything I thought the third act of AoU was the weakest, as it was incredibly formulaic for a marvel movie (big bombastic ending with hundreds/thousands of minions + big baddie vs avengers)

I definitely felt like the stakes weren't high enough when watching it. It's hard to believe Ultron is close to taking over the world when literally no one died the entire first 75% of the movie. I know it's Marvel's choice to not kill off civilians, but come on Hawkeye was set up brilliantly to die in that movie. If he had died halfway through, Ultron would have been way more intimidating, and the movie would have kept the "hopeless" vibe the trailers ever-so shoved down our throats.

Also it kinda bothered me that Quicksilver was killed off for basically no reason. I never read the comics, so I might be missing something, but I guess maybe the Scarlet Witch retains some psychological trauma from his death that carries over into the next movies plot?

Nevertheless I loved the movie I've seen it twice already lol that 360 degree church shot OMG HOLY BALLS
The stakes are never high enough for Marvel flicks, that's something we have to deal with. I actually really love how Whedon subverted expectations by NOT killing off Hawkeye (ya the buildup to his death was intentional and that made his survival all the more surprising).

I think Quicksilver being killed off was used as an added incentive for Scarlet Witch to join the new Avengers, and + the fact that Quicksilver isn't that interesting of a character + Aaron Taylor-Johnson can't act for shit.
 
I thought AoU was far superior to the first Avengers. The first Avengers was quite sluggish and had a very uninteresting first half, basically relying on the wow-factor of bringing all the superheroes together; which is badass, but doesn't make a good film. Second AoU had more room for entertainment and emotional depth due to the characters already being established (though still had to jarringly set up Phase 3 (Thor: Ragnarok with the water cave for example)). If anything I thought the third act of AoU was the weakest, as it was incredibly formulaic for a marvel movie (big bombastic ending with hundreds/thousands of minions + big baddie vs avengers)



The stakes are never high enough for Marvel flicks, that's something we have to deal with. I actually really love how Whedon subverted expectations by NOT killing off Hawkeye (ya the buildup to his death was intentional and that made his survival all the more surprising).
I think Quicksilver being killed off was used as an added incentive for Scarlet Witch to join the new Avengers, and + the fact that Quicksilver isn't that interesting of a character + Aaron Taylor-Johnson can't act for shit.
I was really disappointed that Quicksilver died because I was hoping we'd see more of him. He's fucking cool :(
 

Danmire

its okay.
is an Artist Alumnus
Just saw Whiplash and it was freaking great. It was intense with both the acting and the music, the actors gave an incredible performance and I found myself crying at those intense parts. Just a great overall movie, and I recommend it for anyone who's a musician or looking for some inspiration.
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Lol at all this discussion regarding the stakes. The idea that there are no stakes without death has been fucking over comic books for years now, I mean do you seriously want the Avengers to be Man of Steel all over again? Also the world is getting destroyed every time or something. If you want to actually feel like the protagonists might die, play a video game.

Avengers was really good but I wasn't sold on Ultron (knock-off Braniac). The actor did a great job, but nothing Ultron ever did makes sense unless you see him as being totally insane. For instance, when he could easily have killed all the Avengers with the help of the twins, he didn't because "he didn't want them to be martyrs" (which is a trite plot point already). But then he just wanted to kill all humans anyway? Knock-off Red Tornado had a good showing though.

#54 The Great Dictator
This is the third Charlie Chaplin movie I've seen, but I was looking forward to this one due to it being the one douchebags quote in their facebook profiles. So how was it? Well it was better than the hectic Modern Times, but it had some issues of its own. For starters, voice did not do wonders for the comedic potential of these movies. Being made in 1940, you can't fault it as much as Life is Beautiful for being a holocaust comedy. But BOY are the Jewish ghetto scenes naive as fuck. They are so awkward to watch in just how much they don't get what was actually going on back then (no one really did in 1940 America). Scenes involving Chaplin satire's against Hitler however are very good, and I wish the whole movie was about that. The Jewish barber seems to exist only to eventually switch places with the dictator as both are played by Chaplin, but this happens at the last minute. Ending speech is good, I'm sure everyone has heard it before. I still think City Lights was a lot better though.

#55 The Lives of Others
Every domestic movie that is supposed to be good and lives up that is nice. But these foreign films that I've never heard of? They are gifts. Except for Life is Beautiful. But seriously, I need to see The Lives of Others many more times, as it may be the best film I've ever seen. It's at least 2nd best. Believe me when I say that weighing this movie against my favorite, Princess Mononoke, is huge for me. But it's so fucking amazing and if you guys take nothing else from this project then you all at least need to see this movie.

Ok so The Lives of Others is a German film about the secret police operating in Soviet East Berlin. It takes place in 1984 for obvious reasons, but this isn't a horror story about how bad people can be to each other. I've read 1984, I've seen a ton of Nazi movies at this point. The Lives of Others made an effort to make the bad guys seem like human people going about their lives, trying to find a place in the world, and how they are affected by other people. It's also really fascinating in general because I don't think we have a lot of movies on this subject. I don't want to spoil the movie going on forever about what this leads to or what the movie is actually about, cause it seems to be about a great many things and watching it once probably only scratched the surface.

But man, some scenes are sooooooo fucking good. I've already rewatched some of them several times. Like the ending is just fucking genius. We get a real meaty epilogue (more movies should do this!), the score is fantastic, the symbolism is perfect. And I want this jacket!



There will be sexual favors for any person whose aid results in me obtaining a jacket exactly like this!

And I lost my SHIT when this scene happened:


The Lives of Others: 2006
Gurren Lagann: 2007
 
Not mine: "The most realistic part of Age of Ultron was Ultron deciding the human race must be destroyed after spending a few minutes on the Internet."
Related: Joss Whedon deleted his twitter after getting constant backlash from people who are mad about ??something??
 
I thought ultron was alright... it was definitely entertaining but wasn't as good as the first avengers IMO and is weaker than GotG or winter soldier

Like the fight scenes were great, I loved Spader as Ultron, I loved Vision, and I loved the Thanos post-credit scene, plus the fact that Hawkeye got some actual characterization this time around - but Whedon went a little overboard with the snarky one-liners and did a sloppy job with Tony. It's a little more reasonable when you realize that they're trying to set up the initial conflict between Cap and Tony that eventually leads into the events of Civil War, but the actual film simplified it so much that Tony acted almost irrationally most of the time, and certainly out-of-character, while Steve got turned into a walking "grumpy old man" trope. I agree with Von too, btw - Ultron's actual motives and character are also quite unclear.

I hated Bruce/Natasha. It felt forced as hell with no chemistry and was very difficult to sit through after watching Winter Soldier (which did a great job building up Nat's character). I generally hated what was done with Natasha's entire storyline this movie.

Related: Joss Whedon deleted his twitter after getting constant backlash from people who are mad about ??something??
Apart from some of the stuff I mentioned above, there are a lot of fans angry about the Maximoff twins not being played by Romanis, since the twins are explicitly stated as being Romani in the comics and that was quite irritating to many people.
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
I didn't hate Bruce/Natasha so much as I was uncomfortable with the realization that Black Widow has pretty much been passed around in every movie she's been in. Avengers really seemed to hint at her and Hawkeye, Winter Soldier had her flirting with Cap, and now she's into the Hulk? It's also annoying on Banner's end to be honest, as he has his own girl friday (well it's debatable, but...) and moreover it just seems like we've totally forgotten the Norton movie and any hope of a new Hulk film. Like, "the public has never seen THAT Hulk before", that's bullshit right?
 
I didn't hate Bruce/Natasha so much as I was uncomfortable with the realization that Black Widow has pretty much been passed around in every movie she's been in. Avengers really seemed to hint at her and Hawkeye, Winter Soldier had her flirting with Cap, and now she's into the Hulk? It's also annoying on Banner's end to be honest, as he has his own girl friday (well it's debatable, but...) and moreover it just seems like we've totally forgotten the Norton movie and any hope of a new Hulk film. Like, "the public has never seen THAT Hulk before", that's bullshit right?
Yeah this honestly confused me too. It seems like she likes someone new every movie which is kinda getting irritating by now. Bruce/Natasha seemed REALLY forced and awkward because they rush through the chemistry and it made no sense. And since when did Hawkeye have a wife and kids? I feel like they were kinda shoehorned in there to create more romance and it felt weird and out of place
 

Texas Cloverleaf

This user has a custom title
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I actually thought it made a lot of sense haha. They spent a lot of time explaining how her and Hawkeye were more professionally based with an affection that grew out of him saving her that had never developed beyond that. As a spy she would have almost certainly known about his gf anyway so I had no problems with that being passed over. It's obvious they were going for a beauty and the beast vibe but I could identify with their connection through the lens of each of them understanding the personal demons they'd have to face and through the situation that would have developed a romance. Realistically for a rage monster and a super spy they aren't going to be finding real connections except with people they work with who can know and understand them in that kind of setting. It's also easier for me to accept Natasha with banner than with any other of the avengers because I feel like they have more of a common background and a more similar approach to saving the world and whatnot than would Natasha and any of the other avengers. Finally, since I've spent way too long talking about why I thought a fictional romance was reasonable, I don't buy the lack of chemistry criticisms partly because I saw some chemistry and parry because Ruffalo is playing banner as a pretty awkward dude, you're not going to be seeing easy chemistry with anyone really.
 
Last edited:

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
is a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Smogon Media Contributor
Orange Islands
I saw Ultron at the weekend and went in expecting it to blow the first Avengers film out of the water... It didn't.

There were several confusing plot points, Thor just vanishing at one point, going into some water, hallucinating and then "having the answers".

I know the film is setting up the Infinity Gauntlets/Thanos and the Stones, but jeez, it felt really forced. If you hadn't seen the other films, you would have been totally lost at that point.

Also, where did the huge Vibranium Spike go? There was a shot of it falling, and then it vanished as tony was flying through loads of debris?


The action was great, but the story was pretty wobbly. I went in assuming Strucker would be the "big bad" (or at least a number 2 under Ultron), and... well yeah. That happens. Really innocuous way of killing off a character who should have had a big chunk of screen time.

I was honestly also very uncomfortable with the Bruce/Natasha coupling. Where did that come from?! I hope a lot of the questions get answered later on in one of the other films. This film was certainly no match for Guardians of the Galaxy or Winter Soldier.
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Alright I've stewed for a few days and have seen a bunch of people levying their onions on the movie so now I'm gonna do mine.

In one sentence: Age of Ultron was the best Marvel movie, and Ultron should (but probably wont) go down as one of the greatest/most iconic cinema villains.

I honestly don't know which to talk about here. There is a lot of stuff in this movie that you could go on and on about. But I'm just gonna focus on the namesake here and talk about Ultron himself.

I have seen a LOT of reviews talking about Ultron as if he is your standard "AI who wants to murder the world to stop violence against humans" as if we've seen Ultron as a character so many times before. I've even seen people complain that he was almost TOO HUMAN. These criticisms gloriously miss the point.

Ultron is born from Tony Stark's fears as shown to him by the Scarlet Witch. He is terrified of another Chitauri level invasion, and he is terrified that he could've stopped it if he had done enough. This is very much in line with how he was handling his stress and PTSD about the whole event in Iron Man 3: constantly tinkering and making new suit designs, trying to improve himself so he can be ready. It is this core attitude that is Ultron's inheritance and informs his whole character. He is tasked with protecting the Earth alongside the Avenger's, ultimately against ALIEN threats. He truly wants to save the human race from Alien caused extinction.

And from Stark's need to iterate and improve Ultron invents his solution. He plans to improve the human race. He wants to get them ready for the worst the universe can throw at them. But he immediately sees a problem with this. The Avengers. The Avengers are "Earth's Mightiest Heroes". They are to Ultron, the pinnacle of humanity in it's current form, the effective limits on their capabilities. And he also sees them as humanity's greatest adversaries. "You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change." They are stopping humanity from evolving, from improving. Every time something NEW comes along the Avengers come to stop it.

So what's his plan? He needs to destroy the Avengers, he needs to break humanity's limits, and he needs to push humanity past the brink. Force them to evolve. Those who aren't strong enough to pass his crucible of fire will perish and they don't get a place in the world he aims to create, a world far stronger than before. He carries this logic of improvement and iteration unto himself as well. Constantly building new bodies. Better bodies.

But the improvement of the human race isn't his sole desire. As cliche as it may seem he also wants to be understood. He doesn't want to just kill the Avengers, he wants them to be exposed to their worst selves, to see themselves in the same way he does. As Cap puts the final battle "It's not about whether or not we beat Ultron, it's about whether he's right." He recruits the twins to help him partially for their power, but also because he believes they see and understand the world the way he does. They see the Avengers as threats just like him.

It's in this character trait of Ultron's, the need to be understood, that makes him so damn COMPELLING. He is constantly repeating "They'll understand, give them time they'll understand". When the twins discover his ultimate plan of causing mass destruction to push humanity forward, they are repulsed and he is HURT by this. This pain is so blatantly evident that he doesn't even want to deal with Cap the first time he shows up after the twins leave: "Leave me ALONE." And when they show up on the train to stop him from killing Cap he pleads with them "Don't do this". He is tortured by their betrayal because he thought they understood. His need is so great, that when he finally has the chance to kill Black Widow, one of the Avenger's he's sworn to destroy, he instead chooses to keep her alive because there's "no one else to talk to."

And then there's the Vision. He was working to create this ideal body, this perfect body, to be his ultimate self. A self that would be the savior of humanity. But it is stolen from him and awoken by the Avenger's. And when the last Ultron meets the Vision, he is afraid. Not afraid of death but of the Vision itself. He knows that of everyone on Earth the Vision understands him the most, is the one most able to see Ultron's desires and recognize their importance ("I don't want to kill Ultron... he is unique and he is in pain"), and yet he exists antithetically against him. He completely rejects Ultron's worldview ("They're doomed", "I know... but a thing is not beautiful because it lasts"). Ultron is afraid of both the Vision's conclusion and of his rejection. You could ultimately say that when faced with the Vision at the end Ultron is already dead, and the death of his last body only completes what has already been ideologically done to him.

All that depth of character PLUS him being funny as all hell with an absolutely ludicrously beautiful performance from James Spader makes Ultron my favorite villain in cinema history. But haters be drinking mad haterade for some reason.


I could write more about Bruce x Nat being beautifully (intentionally) awkward and what it says about both characters and how it just made so much sense imo. Or I could write about how Hawkeye became the humanity and the soul of the Avenger's, and about his relationship with the twins. There is a fuckin shitload of depth to this movie man but I really just wanted to nerd out about Ultron for a bit. Carry on.


EDIT: P.S. this post may contain spoilers.
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
So why does Ultron try to wipe out humanity? He flip-flips on everything you've said incredibly quickly. I know he says "humanity should survive anyway if they are worthy", ok, but then he's stupid. How are they gonna survive an extinction level event and then inevitable aliens? Ultron basically acts like a teenager the whole movie. Deep in the things he feels, but not at all compelling in how he goes about dealing with it.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
So why does Ultron try to wipe out humanity? He flip-flips on everything you've said incredibly quickly. I know he says "humanity should survive anyway if they are worthy", ok, but then he's stupid. How are they gonna survive an extinction level event and then inevitable aliens? Ultron basically acts like a teenager the whole movie. Deep in the things he feels, but not at all compelling in how he goes about dealing with it.
I think the point is ultron believes those that do survive extinction will be strong enough to survive the aliens. Trying to force evolution. Either that, or only those that survive the meteor are allowed/worthy to live in a world under ultron's protection
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
I think the point is ultron believes those that do survive extinction will be strong enough to survive the aliens. Trying to force evolution. Either that, or only those that survive the meteor are allowed/worthy to live in a world under ultron's protection
It seems pretty daft though. Like I don't think it would work. And isn't Ultron supposed to powerful because of more than anything his intelligence (like the DC character they ripped off)? Again, he's just insane. Maybe there is a lot to his insanity but I just can't find him that compelling.

Compare him to the Joker, who I already don't think is the pinnacle of villains, but seems to hit a lot of what Valk is talking about way better than Ultron did. He's insane and he more than anything wants everyone else to understand his worldview. But he's a more compelling insane because his worldview involves a human population that he sees (and wants to prove is) equally nuts. He's also steeped in philosophy, as opposed to Ultron who read the internet and whines about how hard saving the world is. AND he's wicked smart, pulling off almost every plan he ever makes whereas Ultron just kind of dicks around, only has any success because the twins are op, before he loses his cool and tries (fails) to destroy the world.
 
Last edited:

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Two things...

First: people really need stop talking about this movie in terms of its relationship to literally all other media. It's like we're incapable of taking it on its own offered terms. (Boohoo Ultron is a brainiac ripoff except he wasn't enough like brainiac?????)

Second: Ultron's plan was literally laid out for you "Humans don't need protecting they need to evolve". He was going to level the planet to purge the weak. Much like Tony in Iron Man 3 he believed the solution to the problem was iteration. But instead of making new suits he wanted to set humanity on a path of rapid change and advancement.

And yes that is insane of him but that's rather the point. He's not cold calculating "I am pinnacle of intelligence I judge thee unworthy of existence" he is a person with feelings and emotions who truly wants to save the world in his own way. Does that make him "teenagerish" sure but why does the relative maturity of his coping mechanisms mean that he isn't complex?

And actually one more thing: judging a villain based on their maturity of mindset and based off of their "successes" is rather superficial in its own right. The Joker in TDK effectively did nothing for two and a half hours to actually prove his point except turn one man. Does that mean he didn't work as a villain? Does Darth Vader not turning Luke to the dark side make him less of an imposing figure? Does Hannibal Lecter being behind bars at the beginning of the Silence of the Lambs make him any less threatening?
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Oh god can we not get into another "things can't be compared" discussion? You threw that ball first when you called Ultron the best villain in cinematic history. I will NOT fucking talk about things in a vacuum.

Isn't Ultron supposed to be smart? Isn't he supposed to be smart even in the context of this movie (super AI built from the MIND GEM)? But he's never ever smart. He's always quite stupid. Success can prove that a supposedly smart villain is actually smart. There's little worse than a villain character whose supposed to be smart and only ever comes across as an idiot.
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
First I said he's my personal favorite in cinema history, not the best but I did say he was relatively good.

And I'm not saying "think about it only in a vacuum" I'm saying "stop expecting him to be a genius if the movie doesn't say he's a genius." This is the case where the context of all previous AI movies cloud the language and ideology of this character and your expectations of him outstrip what he actually is.

And yeah he's made from the mind stone but so are quicksilver and scarlet witch and the Vision and only one of them is omniscient: protip it's the one with the stone in his head.

And that's also ignoring literally every intelligent thing he did accomplish like recognizing the potential of Vibranium and the Cradle of Life and thusly designing the Vision. He also made a meteor out of a small country. Why must he outwit his opponents in battle to actually be considered intelligent?

EDIT: I also want to point out that this version of Ultron's defining feature were his emotions, not his intelligence. It is his personality his amicability and his pain and how he deals with it that are on display throughout the movie not his problem solving abilities...
 
Last edited:

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
You may be right about one thing. I do definitely expect an alien AI robot to be smart. I did not expect it to be "clown #2, because people liked Loki (who was still smarter than Ultron)". Spader did a pretty good job being a clown. But is that all we can get out of Avengers villains? Was that really the right way to do Ultron? Could everything you said not have been applied to a better villain?
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
That's a better discussion to be had in my onion. Usually robots and AI are portrayed as cold and emotionless, instead Ultron is just as emotional as everyone else but is born with vast swaths of knowledge and is burdened with great responsibility all from the very moment he gains consciousness and he struggles through all of this with rapidly oscillating mood swings. Yes he can be a clown some of the time but he is not so simple as being just a clown.

It is less a story about giving a computer consciousness and more a story of giving an intelligence emotions.
 

az

toddmoding
is a Community Contributoris an Artist Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
if your big issue with ultron (film) is that ultron (char) doesn't seem intelligent then idk what to tell you, you missed the point

ultron is only the villain of that film in the sense that he is tony stark's hubris

that's literally the only thing they are ever fighting in that film -- iron man's willingness to try crazy things so that he doesn't have to be a superhero anymore
 

Texas Cloverleaf

This user has a custom title
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
That's a better discussion to be had in my onion. Usually robots and AI are portrayed as cold and emotionless, instead Ultron is just as emotional as everyone else but is born with vast swaths of knowledge and is burdened with great responsibility all from the very moment he gains consciousness and he struggles through all of this with rapidly oscillating mood swings. Yes he can be a clown some of the time but he is not so simple as being just a clown.
imo it's a better discussion to be had in your turnip
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
the bruce/natasha romance was dreadful but i liked the rest of the movie well enough

edit @ texas: dont you mean imt (in my turnip)
 

vonFiedler

I Like Chopin
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
#56 Cinema Paradiso
Two weeks prior to this, I saw an Italian schlock horror movie set mostly in a movie theater (a theater that was featured in The Lives of Others, if we're gonna bring up coincidences). It was a zany affair, with no small of amount of ridiculously unexplained and then dropped events. Now take everything I just said, and substitute schlock horror for serious art film, and you have Cinema Paradiso. Every other minute my jaw would just drop at something happening for no reason and never getting referenced later. Just like, WHAT, is the reaction here. Along those lines one of the funniest and most inexplicable running jokes I've ever seen is in this movie.

Cinema Paradiso obviously gains reputation points for being a movie about the love of movies, but there's more to it than that. I just recently read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Decent book, but hurt by a lack of structure (and I mean 0 structure). This movie feels like an attempt to capture what that book was doing in film form, the artistic awakening of a young man through the scattered medium of thoughts and memories. But I felt it did it even better, due to a better structure and good capstone ending. It's also a very gripping portrayal of the pain of nostalgia.

Not an amazingly good movie, esp after The Live of Others, but I'd recommend it. Anyone should be able to enjoy it for the zany elements, but it's worth thinking about later due to serious art in it.

#59 Paths of Glory
And two weeks ago I saw Doctor Strangelove, a Stanley Kubrick war satire. I'd never even heard of Paths of Glory, but it's another one. Sure, it's not haha funny, but it does a brilliant job of highlighting the absurdities of war. Just like other Kubrick war films, rather than focus on the unimportant visual horror of war (ehem Saving Private Ryan) or the long trite "why can't two sides get along", Kubrick cuts right to the things that are deeply fucking wrong with humans on an individual level. Like how half of Full Metal Jacket never even gets out of boot camp before things turn sour, Paths of Glory is about an unjust and absurd court martial. Why dwell on how people can't get on with other nations when they can't even get on with each other?

Kubrick is very esteemed for his extreme perfectionism displayed in his later films, but ironically I think Paths of Glory is the best Kubrick film I've seen yet. For 1957 it is still stunningly well shot, but more importantly the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. Highly recommended.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top