Just Too Slow

Rating: 8/10 (11 February 2010)

It took me far too long to see this movie, and I am glad I finally did. I love the minimalist approach to the first hour of the movie before they go off to war. And I am a patient viewer - I don't need a plot to keep advancing at a rapid pace, I can appreciate a great character study. But even by those standards, this movie is just too darn slow in 2010. I would have given this a 9 or 9.5 if it had been 2 hours. In fact, I'd love to see it edited down to 2 hours just see what it would feel like. Honestly, I'm writing this review before I've even seen the entire movie - I am about 20 minutes into the war segment...but I'm at a point where I just can't take the slow pace anymore. Is this an American Classic? Sure, it probably is - but when directors get gratuitous with the length of their movies because they just don't feel they can cut anything out - well, that's just hubris. Walken is great in this movie though, even with all his verbal ticks that continue throughout the rest of his career, he's better than DeNiro in this. You can see how DeNiro patterns his later roles after his earlier ones - I'm seeing a DeNiro I've seen many times later in his career here. Cazale is great. The rest are adequate. Could always use some more of Meryl Streep back in the day - she is just radiant here.