Reviews

It made me laugh when I investigated the reason why this was scored so low, "too slow" and "entirely predictable". They've completely missed the point! This isn't a whodunnit, if you've guessed who the killer is congratulations but this doesn't mean you're some higher intelligence and the filmmakers are inept. It means you don't understand the intentions of the plot and how the director interpreted what could have easily been a mundane straight to vhs slasher. It's a character study not a slasher film and I personally think it was rather good.

The acting was of a perfectly acceptable standard and by that I mean a very good standard, I couldn't fault any performances. Especially outstanding were Dylan McDermott and Charlie Plummer who are both very convincing as the characters they play. I can't say too much because I don't want to add any spoilers but suffice to say if you like something a bit quirky then this is it because the best way to describe this is as a Quirky serial killer thriller.

I'm often amazed that people prefer Aliens to the original, I guess it's down to personal taste but in my opinion the first film is far and away the best. It's the way Ripley's whole world just unravels gradually from the get go, the pacing is sublime and it simply doesn't have to rely on tons of action set pieces like the second film does. My assumption is some people find it too slow but everytime I watch it I just marvel at every scene, the effort that went into every detail. The true mark of what an achievement this film was for the time is also how nothing appears dated even now in HD or in 4k, there are countless instances in the second film where it's blatantly obvious scale models have been used and it always bugs me. You have to remember this was made when Christopher Reeve's Superman was about which vfx's look terrible in comparison, blows your mind doesn't it?! Don't get me wrong I enjoy all of the Alien franchise movies, they do gradually worsen in sequence apart from Prometheus which is joint second place for me. I won't go into script or acting, needless to say both are top drawer and feel completely authentic and natural.

A masterpiece! Simple as that.

How is this rated so lowly? I can only assume the modern generation have skewed the rating because it's a classic character driven period piece and doesn't fit the disposable Marvel type of cgi fest. I've not read any other reviews so as to not be influenced but my honest opinion is the acting is perfectly fine, it has an inspiring story, it's well shot and there's the outstanding score by the late great Vangelis. A solid 8/10 every time.

I think I must have watched this between 10+ times and always revisit it every few years. The 2024 Paris Olympics will mark the centenary of the Olympics depicted in this film so there's no better time to watch it.

Watch it if you appreciate a well made film.

What can you say, Bob and Al at their peak pitted against each other. For a crime thriller you won't find better and what's impressive is it hasn't aged one bit if you ignore the slightly baggy clothes & period vehicles. The score, language and stunts haven't and it's just as tense to watch as it was 27 years ago. You can't say that for many films if that vintage, they become cheesy with age. Not this and it's believable, no cgi BS etc.

The only minor gripe I have is the brief sped up night time car chase, not necessary and needs altering if they ever do another directors cut.

However, the diner scene and shootout are absolutely EPIC, two of the best ever scenes committed to film period.

We enjoyed this but did wonder a few times who the hell wrote it and did they not think we'd wonder "why is it always a lone female that goes looking for a creepy character, at night?!" Why has the main protagonist never got a phone to call the police when he suspects who the killer is?

Other than some glaringly obvious plot fails it was still a good watch for a Thursday evening.

Let's get this right, it's an enjoyable fairly average Sunday film but Jodie Foster is an absolute beast in this.

She steals the show with a powerful, mesmerising performance, absolutely amazing. It belies belief that one can drum up the emotion she depicts at the drop of a hat. Bravo Jodie.

You know what, I have to eat humble pie here because once upon a time, when I first saw this film as a young adult I didn't think much of it.

I'd have reviewed it saying it was overly long, not enough action and a bit boring.

How times have changed! Where once I'd have rated Goodfellas was the better film I now most definitely think otherwise. Don't get me wrong GF is a great film but it's not one of the greats, I think Goodfellas is more of a quick gangster fix, definitely the first of a modern breed of blunt instrument Gangland films, ones which are full of brash characters, lots of gruesome killing and a hit parade soundtrack.

Once upon a time in America is the opposite, a carefully crafted and honed (near) masterpiece of cinematic character storytelling. You feel part of what you're watching, transported back to a different era. Just half a step behind The Godfather in my estimation.

This is a joy to watch again and no doubt I'll watch it many more times. Ignore the negative reviews stating it's boring, no doubt mainly Millennials with the attention span of a Gnat.

Words cannot describe this film. Me and the wife were looking at each other in disbelief, within two minutes my other half remarked "is this a joke, or a spoof of some kind?!" She said, "that's uk Police tape!", we spent the next five minutes laughing at the terrible American accents and the UK sets. I cannot bring myself to write any more of my review, so about as much effort as the scriptwriters put in.

Oh dear god, me and the wife were in a good mood before watching this but we headed off to bed without the will to live any longer on this mortal planet. Cheers George Do not watch if you're already on short of anti-depressants

Felt like a poor man's Se7en and was too easy to guess the killer and the so called twist at the end. Ok but many better out there. The wife and I always play guess the imdb score at the end of every movie, I guessed 5.7, she guessed 6.2 so we're not far off with this one

You'll guess most of the big plot points and the score is so bad I resorted to playing air keyboard during the emotional scenes for comedy effect. Fair performances from Fishbourne and Gooding Jnr but that's about it, most of the other actors were outshone by Ice T's low rider.

???????????????????????? Please tell me because I thought IMDB was supposed to be a good representation.

Blade Runner 2049 is an expertly crafted, stunningly beautiful work of art.

If you enjoy Sci-Fi, have more than a few brain cells to rub together and can understand why some movies may have a slower pace than others you will love this. If on the other hand you like a movie to hand everything to you on a plate, get impatient at slow movies and can't sit still for more than 2hrs then stay away. Stick to Daddy's Home 2 and anything with Nicolas Cage or the Rock in it.

AMAZING

Well acted, some beautiful imagery, keeps you interested with it's at times almost painful levels of suspense but is ultimately a big let down. We felt like we deserved a better ending. I suspect the author tried to come up with something different to an age old killer on the loose storyline and cop with "a hunch" but at the end of the day the audience has a certain requirement to enjoy what they've witnessed and if that fails to materialise for whatever reason then the movie can't be rated highly purely for the acting alone.

Perhaps the book is better.

I'm going defend this film, I've probably watched 4 films a week for the last 10 years so we get through a lot of dross and have gotten to know what movies are like that are rated below 6, this isn't one. OK, so the ending could have been better but it's not a complete let down and the rest of the movie is well acted. I think the key to it being poorly rated is because it's eerily frustrating to watch which is definitely the intention here, if you can appreciate that then you'll like it as we did. There are some creepy performances and it's a bit twisted in a way. All in all it should be rated somewhere between 7 and 7.5, solid but not amazing, worth a watch.