An interesting film with some suspense but lacking overall

Rating: 6/10 (21 November 2014)

I went into the theater to watch Whiplash with very little knowledge of the film other than it's about a drummer.
I enjoyed the first 30 minutes or so of the movie and wondered which direction it was going to go. Obviously, something was going to happen between the music instructor and the drum student but what?
The movie ended up being primarily based on their relationship, which basically focused on excessive practice and verbal abuse. The movie failed to capitalize on other relationships such as with the drummer's girlfriend, or relationship with his dad or fellow students. Two other student drummers suffered through the same abuse and you'd think that even though they were competing for the same spot, they'd bond on their hatred for the instructor.
The only interesting scene dialog wise was really the family dinner which was funny yet short. Almost all of the other dialog in the film was the instructor yelling.
The final 30 minutes of the movie didn't sit well with me at all. The student and instructor meeting in the bar and talking over drinks was unlikely seeing how the student hated the man. I don't believe the student would've given him the time of day after what transpired.
Then the instructor, who for the entire film was 100% set on protecting his reputation intentionally tried to embarrass the drummer in front of a huge theater that also had people with connections to the industry. I don't believe the instructor suddenly would've been OK with potentially negatively affecting his already tarnished reputation just to ruin the drummer's chances after the student had already made the decision to give up his dream.
The final scene where the drummer and instructor/conductor seemed to come to terms also seemed unlikely.
In the end, there wasn't enough dialog and the relationship with most of the characters didn't go deep enough to make it a great movie in my mind.