Intense But The Hype And Awards Possibly Work Against It

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2015)

Do you know who I am ? " asks the film's protagonist as the audience are introduced to him
Yeah you're that Nazi dude who enjoys raping all the new arrivals at the Oswald State penitentiary . Yes JK Simmons is back playing an Oscar winning role which isn't all that different from the role OZ fans know him for . It's nice to see that this years Oscar nominations were heavily in favour of indie cinema . It's even nicer to know that this is the film my fellow members of this site was the pick of the crop from 2014 film releases so sat back hoping to get blown away by it
So is it any good ? Yes but I should quickly qualify this by stating it's not really the masterwork some people might claim it to be . One criticism THE HURT LOCKER received was that you could easily rework the story as someone who has become addicted to adrenaline . Instead of a bomb disposal man you could have the story involve a fireman who takes more and more risks and so it's the same with WHIPLASH . How about a brutal drill instructor trying to turn weak civvies in to efficient killing machines ? That's already been done a hundred times before and so here we've a reworking of a familiar story in a slightly unfamiliar setting of a music school . It's a slightly predictable story and in order for it not to be so predictable there's a few plot turns involving situations that become rather contrived and unlikely to say the least
What stops it all falling apart is director Damien Chazelle using all the tools at his disposal involving editing , sound mix and cinematography to disguise the flaws in the story telling . Certainly many directors nowadays think editing revolves around taking as much cocaine as possible while mutilating any coherent on screen action . The editing style of WHIPLASH is some what showy but is genuinely admirable at the same time . It's nice to actually watch a film and notice the editing while never being irritated by it WHIPLASH is one of the better films of 2014 but it's probably a film that's easier to admire than to like . I did like it but didn't love it and I'm not in a great hurray to watch it again