Overblown, overrated, and sincerely just a boring movie!

Rating: 1/10 (21 June 2011)

David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia is considered a full out classic. it is widely respected everywhere, on numerous top ten best films ever made lists, and has received four star reviews everywhere. I watched this film because a friend recommended it to me. i sat down, ready and willing to watch it because of all the praise it had received. About an hour later, i was about to fall asleep. nothing was happening at all. i do enjoy many long films (Dances With Wolves, Titanic, etc.), but the fact that this film lasts about three hours and forty minutes is asinine. Why does this film about a guy that hardly anyone has heard about have to be this long/ I know why! Because all that was on the film makers minds was " I wonder how many Oscars I can get with this film." The Academy loves epic, and this sure was an epic. A seriously flawed epic. First of all is the length. All of this material could have been shown in a matter of 2 and a half hours, if only the script writer had cut out unnecessary dialogue. second, is how Peter O' Toole portrayed Lawrence. Apparently this character is a man who gets a rush by killing people. but, instead of giving the viewers a portrait of why this character has this issue, it instead shows shots of as much desert land as possible. Third of all, this film did not make me leave with a sort of meaning or purpose. All I left with was questions that could have been answered if only It had a better script. now, there are some aspects of the film that saved it from being a one star. That is Alec Guiness's performance as prince Feisal. He is, as always, brilliant. The rollicking score. It left me humming the theme for days. and third is the editing. my favorite is when lawrence blows out the match and it cuts straight to the red sunrise.