SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

vladp6 I rarely review films. But this time I'm going to do that. The film is bad, really bad. I can hardly call it a film at all. Those who give praises and high ratings to this film should be put in that school as a sacrifice for wasting our time. There is absolutely nothing watchable, nothing happens until the last 10 minutes of the film. Believe me, what you are going to watch is just a first- or third-person walk along the corridors of the school. Camera on a shoulder of an operator follows one person walking from behind for 5 minutes, then another person for 5 minutes. Most of the time these persons are silent, sometimes they give comments, sometimes they meet someone and the camera switches to someone else. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens. Why there are so positive reviews, what people like in this film is beyond my comprehension. After 10 minutes of this torture, I've already wanted to switch it off, but then I thought may be there will be something else, may be the characters will start acting or at least talking, it couldn't be that people give 7.2 rating for nothing! Another 10 minutes of walking along the corridors of the school, now the same scenes and same walking but with different people, scenes started to repeat themselves. I've started feeling like someone was fooling me into watching this camera play. Another 10 minutes of walking the same corridors again and again made me angry. I've eventually fast forwarded to the last 15 minutes to see what's all this fuss about. After suffering 5 minutes of the same walking, two students bought guns and armour on-line, received them by post, kissed each other in a shower, dressed like rembos and went shooting everyone in that school, just for fun, as they said to each other. I couldn't understand their motives, because the creators of this "film" did not care about any plot and about making the characters to talk. So, do you want to tell me that just because of the last 10 minutes of heartless shooting everyone in the school this film is worse 7.2 rating???

sharky_55 The students are mostly part stereotype. The girls who parade to the bathroom in groups to vomit up their lunch, and quarrel over how one of them might be spending too much time with her boyfriend. The nerdy, bespectacled girl who is bad and sports and finds solace in the library. The jocks with their cheerleader girlfriends. The quieter students whom are bullied by those jocks, and so on. But stereotypes always have an inkling of truth to them, they don't sprout from nowhere. Every school will have these people. And this makes it all the more frightening; who could be next? Van Sant has a simple style that serves his objective. The camera glides alongside these students, capturing every deep and shallow observation, every quote from Shakespeare and every "Want to go shopping?" He layers the story lines with each other; Michelle walks right into the centre of frame, obscuring the jocks at their football game, as if to declare that she too is important. And then on the second level, he builds each storyline towards the inevitable climax, leaving little clues and timestamps for us to look out for. Tension is slowly accumulated, and as a rational viewer we want to spot those telltale signs, a motive, something. Van Sant dangles all the usual indications when an event like this occurs; the boys playing a first-person shooter, the scenes of bullying, the clutching of the forehead in pain to signal mental illness. It is also a marvel of sound design. There is no score, but the sound levels are masterfully controlled for maximum impact. In one instance the cafeteria's mundane sounds build and build until they drown out everything else, and we begin to suspect a pained existence for the shooters. In another, Alex is practising his piano, and the soft, melodic tune gradually increases in intensity as Eric accumulates his kill-streak on the computer game until he gives up and gives the ritual a middle finger - it's a brilliant example of audio-visual association. And in a haunting sequence, they quietly yet nonchalantly go over their plan, and this is intercut with the deafening gunshots of their later massacre. As the title dictates, four blind men each touch a part of an elephant's body, and declare it to be a different animal. But they are only grasping a small part of the bigger picture, and are unable to piece it all together. And so Van Sant regards the endless speculation on these types of shootings; he dangle clues but does not give them any more than a moment's notice. This links itself to the scene of the Gay-Straight Alliance - the leader poses whether it is possible to discern sexual orientation simply by physical appearance, and the camera arcs around the group discussion, as if to urge us to try and guess. But of course, we cannot with any certainty. They cracked because of the incessant bullying? Tell that to poor Michelle, the first victim of the shooting who would never hurt a fly. Van Sant sees it all so clear, and without a hint of an agenda. There is no building of unfortunate circumstance, no impression of luck - it would be simple to insert such scenarios into the film to ramp up the tragedy: a pregnant teacher, a blossoming football genius, a class on the verge of graduation. But he doesn't - this could've happened on any school day. The 'action' of the shooting itself is cold and calculated. They discuss briefly before they storm the school, and remind themselves to "have fun", as if it was a coach giving a pep talk to his little group of soccer players. The gunshots are loud without comparison, and they take life so swiftly, without reason. There is no moment of remorse, no hero moment for Benny, no miraculous escape against the odds. Good action scenes makes us want to watch again and again for the breathtaking thrills they provide. Great action scenes that are concerned with realistic violence and subject matter such as this are unwatchable, because it does not seek to prop up a cause, or trying to sensationalise a conscientious topic. As Alex counts down to an agonising inevitability, I could barely keep my eyes on the screen.

Gustavo Schroeder A Elephant is a movie directed by Gus van Sant that depicts the horrible events at Columbine in the late 1990's. I really love a lot of things in this movie and I like what I believe van Sant was trying to say and how he wanted to express that. The movie is structured in a non linear way, with many flashbacks and changing the perspective through the use of different characters. I like that he used actors that weren't known at the time, so it really felt like they were actual teenagers attending high school. The cinematography is great and the music just connects with the movie very well. I actually watched this film in my cinematographic appreciation class and I had absolutely no idea what it was about. It started really slow and introduced these "random" characters so I didn't know what to expect. Until you see what the movie is really about. After that it all made sense to me and the movie just starts feeling very dark end eerie.I believe van Sant achieved exactly what was on his mind and it is good, but man does this movie drag on. It has to do with the structure the movie wants to follow, seeing the same story pretty much told over and over again through the perspective of different characters, which makes it interesting but it really slows the movie down. I would be lying if I said Elephant didn't bore me at times.Gus van Sant tells this very unconventional story and he treats it with respect, but not indifference, he definitely has something to say here, but he likes to extend scenes unnecessarily and the movie is very slow. A good movie with a good message that just feels unnecessarily long.

nicks_picks Where to start with this film; this film tries to be artistic and the director wants people to know that his style of directing is art. It isn't. It's annoying. Not only that, but the film is so dull and has little to character development. The director throws together all these characters and their problems and tries to make the audience feel sympathetic for these characters: it didn't work. If they wanted to make the audience feel more sympathetic, less camera shots and more dialogue. Another thing that bothers me is the two shooters, Alex and Eric. They are technically the real stars of this movie, but yet they don't really have much development and there isn't much evidence shown in the film to show that they are bullied victims. In fact the only scene that we see bullying is in the classroom, and yet, that's the only time we'll ever see that happen again. Acting is not too bad, but it's not good either. Overall, not a good film.