This is a great movie, really cool!

Rating: Null/10 (17 April 2000)

This is a really cool movie! (If you've never seen it, read this at your own risk of spoilers) As I was saying, this is a really cool movie!
The storyline is great, it's amazing the way it's set up. These two people, each one with their own mission involving the bridge, each heading towards each other and the bridge, and when they meet it provides nothing short of edge-of-your seat tension as you wait to see what happens. Watching Nicholson, particularly, is enthralling. Usually you think of Hitchcock when it comes to stories featuring characters with an obsession (such as "Rear Window" and "Vertigo"), but director David Lean, with "Bridge on the River Kwai", also shows how he can tell an "obsession" story. Nicholson becomes so determined to build the perfect bridge that his obsession blocks out any "ethical questions" he should have about building it. Throughout the film, though, you are unsure of this Nicholson character. At the beginning, he quickly becomes a character you admire when he demonstrates his will power by sweating it out all those days in that box. The Japanese commander finds that Nicholson's will cannot be broken, and so we admire Nicholson. But he's building this bridge which will ultimatley help his enemies in the war.....but then again, he's being forced to do it....but does he have to do it so *well*? Those are the questions you ask yourself (at least, the questions I asked myself.), all the way up and until the end, when the bridge is about to be blown up. Like I said, this part is real edge-of-your-seat stuff, because you're waiting to find out where Nicholson's loyalties are. Will he help the soldiers who are on his side, or will his obsession with the bridge overcome what he should do? The answer may surprise you.......this movie, I think, is excellent. I believe I like it even more than Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia". Excellent direction, excellent shots of the jungle, and excellent acting, especially by the great Sir Alec Guinness as Col. Nicholson. I fear that some younger viewers (members of the high-speed, thrill-a-minute MTV generation) might find some scenes long and boring, particularly the jungle scenes, but I find them very cool, and are excellent shots.
As with all David Lean's films, the screen is like a huge canvas, showing all sorts of wondrous and incredible images. Oh, and by the way, the destruction of the bridge and subsequent train wreck are SPECTACULAR.