What success actually looks like.

Rating: 8/10 (22 October 2017)

It's pretty remarkable that Whiplash has more blood in it than a lot of action movies. That fact alone is an indicator that this is not an ordinary film. The relationship between Andrew and Fletcher is a sharp contrast to the "no child left behind/ everybody wins" mentality that millennials have been raised on. Based on this film, it's hard to say where Damien Chazelle stands on that sort of education tactic, but he gives us a ride of a story based on the inverse mentality.
The characters in this movie go to extreme lengths to achieve their goals. Andrew practically ruins his life in order to become "one of the greats". It seems like he succeeds at the end, but I wasn't really happy for him. I don't think the sacrifice he put in was worth it and his pursuit of his passion turns him into an unfriendly person. Nonetheless, I believed that his passion was strong enough that he would forsake all personal safety in order to keep his place in Fletcher's band. This was one of the last movies I would have ever expected to feature a car crash, but I believed that it could have happened given the circumstances. Fletcher somehow didn't seem legitimate, though. He sort of told Andrew his intentions straight away, which I thought made a lot of his threats rather empty. Some of the language in the movie didn't feel realistic either. I never hear people use the F word as a noun in real life, so it made some of the dialogue in the movie feel fake. The script wasn't bad in my opinion, but not good enough to get a nomination for best screenplay. There were a few scenes that I didn't find contributed anything. Damien Chazelle showed a lot more prowess as a director than a writer in this movie. At least, that's what I thought.
I wouldn't say it's a must-see, unless you are an aspiring director. The acting performances are pretty good, but not the most impressive I've seen. It's definitely an interesting take on the journey to success and the sacrifice that is involved, and is more likely to discourage people to achieve greatness than to inspire them. It's definitely an intense movie, not that entertaining, but it will keep your attention. Overall Rating: 8.1/10.