Pure Agony

Rating: 2/10 (27 December 2002)

I had heard very little about this movie when I walked into the dollar theater, so I decided it was worth a shot. 3 agonizing hours later, I walked out of the theater wishing I had spent my dollar on something useful- like a single hollow point bullet I could have put through my brain.
This movie is so uninteresting on so many levels, I can hardly decide where to start a critique. The acting is probably the worst facet of this movie. Not one performer gave me a reason to hope that they would survive an ambush. In fact, I was hoping for one throughout the movie.
TTRL has no plot. Nothing of any significance happens. It could have just as easily been depicted as a bunch of poets sitting in a coffee house reading their works about war.
The narrative is disjointed, and often insipid. If it were associated with more interesting characters, it might be tolerable. But it comes off as heavy handed at best.
However, the imagery supported the philosophical meanderings of the characters and the cinematography was good, so the movie does have one redeeming quality. I haven't tried watching the movie with the sound off... it might be somewhat watchable that way.
If you want to see a war movie, skip this one. If you want to see an artsy movie, there are better ones. Any Kubrick movie comes to mind. Even "Eyes Wide Shut" scored lower on the agony meter than this piece of rubbish.
**/10