If it were possible, I would give this film -100.
I remember when this film was released, and there was quite a lot of controversy surrounding it. This is exactly the type of movie I DON'T like. Because it isn't made to provoke useful thought and comment. Just to promote a director and his career. Couldn't Mr Van Sant come up with an original idea himself? I suppose the answer is no. After all, this is the man who directed a shot for remake of Psycho. And, he decided to use real non acting teens in his film Elephant, which accounts for most of the awfully wooden performances. It's very difficult to care about a character in a film, if the actor portraying the person isn't capable of doing it convincingly. For example, Benny, who appears late in the film, wanders around the school which is on fire, even though he can hear gun shots...Duuuh!! Guess what happens to him. And at the end, when the blonde boy tries to stop people entering the school, his 'performance' has no sense of urgency at all. He seems to be trying to imitate James Dean...Very badly. One scene I did like however, was when the two boys slaughtered three girls in the ladies toilet, after they had just vomited away their lunches. Bravo boys!!
Using the flashback method of telling a story from different viewpoints is not an original idea either, but when done properly it is very effective.
I am not a person who only likes action movies, or films that are neatly tied up at the end. I can take a thoughtfully made dramatical movie with a message any time...This isn't one of those films. If I was a relative of someone killed at Columbine, I would be highly offended by this trash. It really did look as though it was improvised throughout, not just in places.
I remember when this film was released, and there was quite a lot of controversy surrounding it. This is exactly the type of movie I DON'T like. Because it isn't made to provoke useful thought and comment. Just to promote a director and his career. Couldn't Mr Van Sant come up with an original idea himself? I suppose the answer is no. After all, this is the man who directed a shot for remake of Psycho. And, he decided to use real non acting teens in his film Elephant, which accounts for most of the awfully wooden performances. It's very difficult to care about a character in a film, if the actor portraying the person isn't capable of doing it convincingly. For example, Benny, who appears late in the film, wanders around the school which is on fire, even though he can hear gun shots...Duuuh!! Guess what happens to him. And at the end, when the blonde boy tries to stop people entering the school, his 'performance' has no sense of urgency at all. He seems to be trying to imitate James Dean...Very badly. One scene I did like however, was when the two boys slaughtered three girls in the ladies toilet, after they had just vomited away their lunches. Bravo boys!!
Using the flashback method of telling a story from different viewpoints is not an original idea either, but when done properly it is very effective.
I am not a person who only likes action movies, or films that are neatly tied up at the end. I can take a thoughtfully made dramatical movie with a message any time...This isn't one of those films. If I was a relative of someone killed at Columbine, I would be highly offended by this trash. It really did look as though it was improvised throughout, not just in places.