Not worth the time investment!

Rating: 1/10 (23 February 2014)

After seeing this film on numerous top 10 lists and seeing it as number 1 greatest epic of all time on AFI's list, I decided to give it a try. BIG MISTAKE! It ended up being a depressing, discouraging waste of time. Let me make something clear: I am a history buff, and I love historical epics. But this was ridiculous! I spent the first two hours interested because I thought it was leading to something significant in the last two hours. I was wrong. A depressing conclusion and an awkward ending rendered this to be an exhausting experience. I watch movies to enjoy them and be entertained, not to be relieved when the finish! If there is any redeeming quality to this film, it is Peter O'Toole's phenomenal performance as T.E. Lawrence. He is the single bright spot in this dark film. He so effectively conveys emotions that when he feels broken, crushed or disappointed, you feel broken, crushed or disappointed. Which is a problem for the audience, because Lawrence spends a lot of time being broken, crushed, or disappointed! Still, I was genuinely impressed with O'Toole's ability to convey his character so perfectly. Lawrence's personal demise is what makes the film so depressing. He starts as a merciful, honorable man, and eventually becomes prideful and arrogant. He seems to think he's a god until he's tortured (and possibly raped) by his captors, and in a disturbing scene, goes on a mad killing spree, awakening to find himself covered in blood with a knife in his hand. War can truly destroy a man. If this movie were 90 minutes, it might have been an interesting historical film about an extraordinary man who did extraordinary things at an extraordinary cost. T.E. Lawrence was a hero who sacrificed for a cause he believed was right, but suffered severe consequences, becoming an emotionally and mentally broken man, a shadow of his former "extraordinary" self. As it stands, however, I could not possibly recommend it. PLEASE, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!