A 2 hour film based on a 2 second climax.

Rating: 5/10 (10 January 2015)

To say this film was bad would be lying. However, I wouldn't argue against calling it boring. The whole narrative lacks a key element of good cinema, which is audience involvement. To truly have an effect on spectators, they need to NOT be spectators. They need to be companions to the film, to the characters, to the storyline; their response to the film needs to have significance and purpose.
The reason why cinema has such a big impact on people is because they are plucked from their seats dragged into the story. Foxcatcher just doesn't have this aspect. The characters are not well-established at all. At no point in the film did I empathise with Mark, John, or Dave, and likewise, at no point in the film was I rooting for any of them. It felt like I was just sitting there, watching. I didn't really care what happened to any of them.
Along with this, the narrative consisted of essentially nothing. If you asked me, I believe that without all the irrelevant scenes, the film would last not even an hour. It felt like they were using bland fight scenes and dull training montages in order to give the sense we were watching something that wasn't completely void of a storyline. The only point in the film that truly had an effect on me was the climax at the end, which I can assure you was not worth the 1 and a half hours I had wasted watching the fodder to this scene.
Pseudo-tension was also created with a repetitive and somewhat annoying use of silence which accompanied almost every scene. In theory, it may seem like a good, thoughtful idea, but when you're sitting in a theatre of 100+ people, silence translates to 'who is crunching that popcorn in row 5 and why do they have to be so goddamn loud about it'.
Now, to perhaps the most disappointing part of the whole film, Steve Carrells performance. After it being so hyped up, and knowing his history in comedy, I was definitely looking forward to this 'Oscar-Worthy' performance. Let's just say he didn't deliver. Every scene that involved him was boring, as he just didn't have the acting ability or technique to make DuPont beyond a bland talking voice and instead a complex, conflicted character. I do really love Steve Carrell as an actor, and I especially love him in The Office, but I just wish they'd have chosen someone who would have added to the film, instead of taken away.
In the right hands, this story could have been gripping, horrifying, and humbling all at the same time. Unfortunately, this adaption flopped. 5/10