I really disliked this movie

Rating: 2/10 (28 March 2015)

I didn't "enjoy" this movie though I don't fault the fine acting. Movies successfully pitch an alternate reality when internal consistencies makes the unbelievable believable. In the movie The Matrix, as in many Sci-Fi flicks, the director establishes environmental rules and all the characters operate within that framework. My objections to Whiplash focus on its extreme examples of behavior which are so extreme as to make them conspicuously inconsistent with the movie's time and place. Those extremes strain the credulity of nearly every key player.
I couldn't take the movie seriously despite its fervent desire to make a case about over-the-top efforts / sacrifices and what some people think it takes to win. There was little / no back story to convince me any of the characters would either act like that, be allowed to act like that, or be the recipient of those same actions. It's caricature upon caricature.
The movie's conclusion provided some semblance of redemptive believable cohesion but by then it really was too late and I found the whole setup very contrived.