Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Argemaluco Before watching The Program, I said to myself: "It's always the same. I think I'm not going to like a sports movie because I'm not interested in the sport in question, but I generally end up liking them because the sport is just an excuse to tell stories about internal strength and triumph over adversity". And, to a certain point, my prediction was true; however, I unfortunately didn't end up liking The Program very much. Don't misunderstand me. The Program is well acted and solidly directed by Stephen Frears, who keeps a sober point of view which doesn't judge Lance Armstrong for his bad ethic decisions, even though they aren't justified either; Frears just shows the facts with the talented vision which distinguishes his filmography (by the way, my favorite films of it so far are Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity and Dirty Pretty Things). Regarding the cast, Ben Foster brings a solid performance, playing Armstrong in a pragmatic and realistic way, while the rest of the cast also makes a good work, highlighting Chris O'Dowd and Guillaume Canet. So, why wasn't I left very satisfied by The Program? Because I didn't find the story particularly interesting. It might be so for the fans of cycling, but the facts are so simple and linear that they could have been told in 10 minutes of documentary footage. In other words, the story lacked the necessary "punch" in order to capture my emotions; or maybe, I was right from the beginning, and the problem was my ignorance regarding everything related to cycling. Anyway, I think I can give it a slight recommendation mostly to fans or haters of Armstrong's and to those who like cycling. For the rest of the audience, better read the article on Wikipedia; the effect will be the same as the one I had while watching this movie, with the difference that you will have to invest much less time.

Reno Rangan I think it came at the right time. The recent report says there are lots of athletes around the world from the different sports failed their doping tests. But this story sets around the 15 years ago, which was based on the real sportsperson's life story. Lance Armstrong, a cyclist from the Texas and his record breaking back to back wins at the 'The Tour de France'. The film narrates a tale that what he chose to do with the second chance of his life.A very interesting biopic, but kind of confusing over what kind of revelation the film is. I mean whether inspiring to fight back the disease, especially what he contributed to the poor and orphan cancer patients, or cheating the game to become a fame. So what I think is it has the both positives and negatives. I liked the balanced screenplay, that is very smart for a controversial person like this.It's like a modern 'Robinhood' tale. But here, he's not stealing from the rich, instead he cheats the game. Those tricks were unbelievable. That's not the right thing to do, but that's what he's good at. Ben Foster was amazing, I'd seen him doing lots of supporting roles, but for this he's the posterboy. This film is a great example that the lies cannot go on forever, sooner or later the justice will be done. People hate him and so this film. There are others who like him as well, but I'm neutral and people like me has to go through a hard time to rate it.6½/10

elle_kittyca I was a bit surprised to see this biopic had a rating of 6.5 after I watched it. I find most IMDb reviews far too generous, but in my opinion, this rating was about right.its a solid bio-pic that tells an interesting story of a cheater and his downfall. I am generally not very interested in sports, but I do like true stories of people and their weakness, and Armstong is a flawed character, who even in disgrace and failure never seemed able to really grasp the enormity of his flaws. The movie was coherent, well scripted, an d reasonably acted. and I've looked at the reviews that have marked it lower than that, and most of them complain that its is not as powerful in the end as it should be. I guess, to some extent, I can see where they are coming from. Who can argue that the the level of dishonesty displayed by this man should have ended in a total downfall of heart-wrenching magnitude? Like Armstrong (eventually), the movie tells it like it is and doesn't contemplate the full enormity of the situation for dramatic effect.

Joshua Lipinski Very well-made flick. Cycling scenes are authentic, so are the settings. Acting by Ben Foster was amazing, maybe a little too intense. Yeah it's pretty clear that Armstrong was an intense dude but I've followed along with his career, his social media, his accomplishments, and when he gets the endorphin rush I've seen he can be a pretty happy guy. Only wish there was more of a backstory to Armstrong's life and more detail to the last few years before he ended up confessing. Highly doubt the average fan knows actually how bad of a cheat Contador is/was - every bit if not worse than Armstrong. Also, during his comeback, Lance claims - and other cyclists claim - that he came back as a clean rider. Deep down, I think he hates that he had to dope. But to choose cycling as your profession, and to try to feed a half-billion dollar charity, the only way to turn blood to dollars was The Program.