Boring as hell and too pompous for my taste

Rating: 5/10 (24 June 2012)

The Academy Awards has made some pretty big goofs over the years. Giving the best picture Oscar to Chariots of Fire rather than Raiders of the Lost Ark was one such goof. A quintessential action/adventure film that is now considered one of the best of all time was beaten out by a boring, pretentious, and pompous sports drama. A damn shame if you ask me. But what's done is done of course, and I can at least say I sat down and watched Chariots of Fire to analyze if it truly was deserving of an awards, and I can say it wasn't. Chariots of Fire is about two track runners, one a hotshot Jew and the other a devout Christian, who compete in the 1924 Paris Olympics for Great Britain. It's their story of perseverance and the way they would stop at nothing achieve their goals, except go against their own honor.
Chariots of Fire is a film whose highly recognizable theme song which we all have heard far exceeds its reputation. The song is much more well known than the film it came from, and that's probably because Chariots of Fire is not a memorable film aside from that empowering soundtrack. It's slow, uneventful, and just plain boring. There's little to no conflict throughout the movie, and what little conflicts arise get resolved so quickly, sometimes in the exact same scene as when they were introduced. We know from the start how the film is going to play out, and there are no surprises along the way. It's a drag to watch and you will be so happy when it's finally over.
The only thing I can bring myself to give Chariots of Fire credit for is its passion. It tries so hard to be a fantastic and moving film, but it tries a little too hard. It wants to be a classic so badly and it tells its story with as much passion and as much determination as one can tell a story so uninteresting. Also, there are some pretty decent performances throughout the film, namely from Ian Holm who does an excellent job at portraying the coach of one of the runners. But the characters in the film are bland and there isn't much going on with them. They seem to want to have a lot of depth, but they really go nowhere. But I can commend the actors portraying these flat characters, as well as the rest of the filmmakers, for trying to make Chariots of Fire a great film, but it was sadly a failure.