[Post published by Liviu, on
Liviu's [Personal] Blog]
I can also watch story-based and sad-and-deep movies, you know - oh, they call it drama?
Like
War Horse [
official site;
IMDB;
en.wikipedia], you know. I'm not an action addict as you might think by my reviews... Hmm, I should have reviewed
Ides of March a long time ago, but I did not, which is a shame, because you get a really good story there and a great George Clooney & Ryan Gosling... Anyway,
War Horse I said, right?
Why?
- Steven Spielberg [en.wikipedia; IMDB] directs it.
- Got 6 Oscar nominations [Oscar.go.com; en.wikipedia; IMDB]
Story line?
It is that story obviously built to touch your feelings, to highlight the drama, tragedy... like European movies always try doing, but kind of fail every time :)... eh, Hollywood does not fail, you know :)
As a side note, another recent example of Hollywood earning my appreciation with this type of movie is Woody Allen's
Midnight in Paris. Sweet, cool, nice. Anyway...
You get delivered a situation developed on purpose to feel sad & deep & philosophic... and it is nicely developed, well played, all parts fit perfectly. The drama builds up on the way, seamlessly. Really nice, what can I say? It earned my appreciation, I must say it again.
I really enjoyed the funny parts, too. You quite often get either a funny line, or a funny moment because of the overall situation. They are subtle in their funniness, built for an educated public, if you ask me. This whole combination of drama and funny parts makes you dive deep in the story.
The movie's actual duration according to my watch is about 135 minutes. Well, it certainly feels a lot shorter. Really, I felt amazed when I looked at my watch in the end. Everything develops so smooth, that it keeps you connected and everything... and you just do not realize when time flies away.
Action?
The action supports the story line, emphasizing the tragedy, the drama, the... and yes, the action part does a really good job.
I suspect you're not expecting too much action, do you? I mean, you're thinking that it's a drama, so there's no room for action, since it's not an action movie, right?...
To be honest, there's quite a lot of action, well placed, nicely built... oh, it's Steven Spielberg, I forgot, sorry.
Conclusions
Congratulations, Mr. Spielberg! Well done!
I definitely recommend you to watch War Horse - great combination of everything: story line & drama, funny parts, action. Please watch it on the big screen (i.e. at cinema) because you just need to see all the details, to feel the atmosphere, everything...
(Nota bene: watching it on TV or on a computer screen would ruin the whole experience. You have been warned!)