all that matters is sports and religion

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2001)

Contrary to some other reviewers, I did not find "Chariots of Fire" to be boring. This was mostly because of the racing sequences, which are beautifully shot and pay attention to various tiny yet striking details such as the shaking wine glass on top of a hurdle, Eric loudly gasps for air after winning a race, or the dramatic beginning of a race set to the chiming of chapel bells. "Chariots of Fire" did for track what "The Tin Cup" did for golf - take a sport that is usually dull to watch and make it seem exciting. It also has the great emotional scene in which Harold confides his concerns about losing to his girlfriend. The film also has an interesting feel for its time period. Plus, creating an adult oriented movie virtually without any explicit content like this one is quite a feat by today´s standards. However, I did not feel that the movie was particularly great either. Basically, the problem with it is that neither Harold nor Eric are very well rounded characters. Harold´s character seems to begin and end with his furious desire to be a track champion in order to spite the Britons who look down on his Jewish background (although the antisemitism he encounters in the movie never seems to go beyond mild teasing). Eric´s character, in a similar way, begins and ends with him being obsessed with running track because he believes that his speed is a gift from God and being committed to his religion to the point of refusing to run on a Sunday. Except for tiny details like the fact that they both like Gilbert and Sullivan, that is all we ever learn about them. The result is that the movie plays like a simplistic "Rocky" style motivational feelgood movie rather than a thought provoking drama. Eric and Harold are so at odds with each other that one would expect at least one heated argument, debate or competition between them. This never happens. Rather, they just have a boring, quiet respect for each other. They also do not seem to have lives outside of running track except for those moments when their "civilian lives" are CONNECTED to running track in some way. The movie also has the problem of lacking even a vague sense of humor, and, in my opinion, one would be hard pressed to find an all time great movie that is also utterly humorless.