Beautifully shot, brilliantly acted. I just wanted more

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2015)

I will admit that this film kicked my ass, I read a lot of reviews before seeing it ensuring none of them gave away the story. I'm not sure though whether what I read misguided my imagination from what I actually seen or the film was so over hyped that what I eventually ended up watching didn't live up to the expectation as predicted. I ummed and ahhhed over re-watching the film before reviewing it again but in the end have decided watching it again would be unfair and to be an honest review I should write my first thoughts. Perhaps I'll write a second review sometime in the future, for now though I'm going with my original feelings and thoughts and penning that hopefully this review will leave make way for some great discussions.
Riggan Thompson sits in his dressing room mediating, he hovers about three feet off the ground legs folded and hands in a praying position. Riggan Thompson was once a great comic book turned movie hero to the film industry with a legion of fans, that was all back in the 1990's. Since leaving half way through the third and fourth films his career took a dive, these days he is a washed up almost forgotten actor so to make his way back to the hearts of his fans and create some new ones he decides he will write, direct and star in an adaption of a Raymond Carver story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". The play is set to debut in the St James Theatre in New York, 24 hours before the first preview screening one the main actors is injured and can't do the play. He brings in a very well-known method actor Mike Shiner who has done more than enough to empress Riggan. During his first preview screening Shiner does the unthinkable and Riggan's world suddenly comes crashing down around him, his estranged relationship with his daughter gets father apart, his best friend turns on him and to top it all off a famous and reviewer has threatened to destroy the play no matter how good it actually is. With Riggan's "birdman" attacking him from the inside slowly Riggan's world becomes more than he can handle but what and how will he make this all work.
The first and last thing you will notice about this film is that of the amazing camera work, the entire film appears to be shot in one single take which is absolutely stunning to behold, fantastic idea by both the director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel) and his lead cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the second thing you will notice is the brilliant acting by Michael Keaton (Batman, Beetlejuice) who plays Riggan Thompson, he is amazing in his role very believable you almost think that perhaps he isn't at all acting but being himself which must be the sign of a true genius, add to the amazing acting the stunning performance by Edward Norton (American History X, Fight Club) who plays Mike Shinner, I loved his character and thought he really helped the film where it would have otherwise fallen down. I found the story though very lack luster, almost boring, I personally believe it just tried too hard to be an art-house but failed, sure it had its moments and the camera work is more than enough to class this film as amazing, as is the acting from Michael Keaton and Edward Norton, I felt it needed a lot more though to deserve all the acclaim it's so far received. Also in the cast is Zach Galifianakis as Jake, Emma Stone as Sam and Naomi Watts as Leslie.
Birdman is a film that needs your full undivided attention, I personally don't believe it will be for everyone, it is a very intellectual film (perhaps that's why I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else) It's a film that will take you deep inside a man's mind and what makes him tick, it's a film that will wish for that little bit more and lastly I believe it's a film that lies to you especially if you have seen the trailer so don't expect no big budget action film as the trailer leads you to believe.