A Beautiful Train Wreck

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2014)

There are so many things that can be said about this movie, but I'm going to try and balance my opinion of it, and break it down into sections:
1. Acting: the performances were commendable, and if anyone would like to argue otherwise I thought DiCaprio was very impressive with his portrayal of drug-induced episodes and overall douche bag of a character.
2. The time: I thought that a three hour movie would be a full three hours of "must haves." Surely the film editors would have cut it down more if each minute wasn't entirely necessarily, right? Wrong. I mean, all in all it was a very well put together film. Mind blowing to know it is based on reality. But three hours? This was no Gone with the Wind. I mean, I wish at least an hour of it was Gone with the Wind, if you know what I mean.
3. The plot: Okay, so we have to have some leniency since it IS based on reality and all, but I thought the high points were somewhat difficult to spot. Perhaps because the entire film was like watching a very illegal party, in which you have no idea what to focus on, but it seemed to wrap up nicely with the pen idea, even though that too was anti-climatic. I was expected a grander finale, I suppose.
4. The language: I'm not the type of person to be too easily offended, but the language in the film was so plentiful, It feels like the swear word ratio is significantly higher than it needed to be. We get it, they're materialistic, self- serving, assholes.
5. DiCaprio: Okay, I know I already mentioned him in #1, but you have to give this man props. If I were to recommend this film, it would be for this guy.
6. Overall: It was entertaining. Not the best movie I have ever seen, but I feel it was well done. Could have easily ended in 2 1/2 hours, and maybe even 1 hour and 45 minutes though. Just saying.
If I had to describe the film with an analogy, it would be a like watching train wreck. A very beautiful, expensive train wreck. One so horrible, you can't bare to look...but you look anyways, because amongst the chaos is beauty. The destruction is a sad tragedy you cannot look away from. It's the Lana Del Ray song of movies.