Birdman does not live up to its hype

Rating: 7/10 (12 July 2015)

Expecting more then an acting movie will only disappoint you. Birdman is a film so unique and clever— that you have to give it up to the actors. Keaton, for playing a character with such pain— a character with such a strive for success that no one else could have pulled off. Norton, for playing the charismatic and vein actor Mike, who eventually becomes the character that the audience looks forward too seeing the most. Stone, for playing the disturbed daughter, who delivers the most intense and well written monologue in the film. Finally, Watts, who delivers an actress who is trying to make it big in Hollywood role that was "ok". The camera shots were incredibly unique— giving the movie a sense of realism. The movie on its own was not as great. It is absorbed by messy drums, pounding louder and louder every time someone stops talking— and is washed out by the slow 30 minute ending that should have only been 10 minutes. Birdman found itself in a bizarre position, in which the first 40 minutes or so were great, but the 60 minutes left found itself redundant and dragging. It truly is an actors movie— one all actors surely will relate to. But not everyone (including me) is an actor, and the film fails to demonstrate a moral message that does not comply with only a certain group of people. Its dark humour may have saved it from drowning at the bottom of a lake— but it certainly was not as glorious as the other movies who lost to it at the Academy Awards. Michael Keaton has delivered a once-in-a- lifetime performance, but unfortunately gets dragged down by the pillars. B-. Ryan Farrell.