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Elephant (2003)
Topic Started: Oct 19 2013, 09:43 PM (861 Views)
KnifeOfTheHunter
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Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.
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Smeagollum
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One of the few movies I hated enough to write a review for.

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I hated this movie. It had some nice camera work but that's the only good thing about it. It lazily tries to convey high school alienation by just not developing anybody and leaves the job of sympathy for the characters up to the subject matter, which you may or may not have been manipulated by. I obviously wasn't.

It's not surprising that Van Sant picked the actors out of school hallways. Which means I'm hinting that the acting was mediocre. I'm surprised the whole movie wasn't directed by a student considering how amateur it is.

And then the film fails at even being disturbing because actions conducted by the characters during the shooting were so illogical that it became hilarious. When the two shooters first walk into the library, holding massive tech-9's btw, the geek girl turns to them, somehow misses the tech-9's, and says something like "You guys..." before getting shockingly blown away. Then Ricky from American Beauty....I mean the kid with the camera, just stands there and stares at them and takes a picture. Aww, that's beautiful and poignant. 10/10! While guns are going off, one kid in class (who, btw, was sitting around with the rest of his class in a circle discussing how to spot a gay person.....okay.....) gets up to check it out while the teacher does nothing, shockingly gets blown away (which has the most noticeable goof in film history) while the rest of the class don't seem to care, and just calmly drag his body in. This brings us to "Benny", the most illogical character of the whole movie. Why he walks around like a freaking idiot is never mentioned. He can't be mentally challenged, because he knows enough to help a classmate through a window. He's not deaf, because he sees the bloody corpses and fires. He's not trying to stop the killers, because he just casually walks over to one of the killers (before shockingly getting blown away) like he's going to ask him what time it is. What is his deal? More poignant art, I suppose. And finally, we have the couple in the meat locker. They are surrounded by windows and exits which lead directly to the front of the school and away from danger... so they stay in the meat locker.

This was pretentious crap pretending to be art. And borrowed a bit too much from Kubrick, I might add. Hey look, one of the teen killers is a Beethoven fan! Where have I seen that before?

A better film, albeit over the top, is Bang Bang You're Dead.
Edited by Smeagollum, Oct 19 2013, 10:04 PM.
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KnifeOfTheHunter
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I absolutely hate this movie with a burning passion. It does not deserve the praise it gets.

I gave it a 2/10 JUST for the cinematography.
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Forget about the bloody gods and lsiten to what I'm telling you
I won't lie.. I find school shootings horrific, but that scene sounds almost hilariously awful
Fuck this film though
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KnifeOfTheHunter
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I won't lie.. I find school shootings horrific, but that scene sounds almost hilariously awful


It honestly is. In Zero Day it was handled much better (people running and hiding since the school was LOCKED). In this however people covered their heads on the ground when the shooters approached them.

If you want a well made school shooting movie, see Zero Day.
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Smeagollum
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AmandaYoung
Oct 19 2013, 10:06 PM
I won't lie.. I find school shootings horrific,
Me too. And from reading about them, one thing they all have in common is that students don't just stand around waiting to get shot or slowly walk into gunfire like they're in some arthouse wank-fest.

This movie pissed me off.
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Smeagollum
Oct 19 2013, 10:19 PM
AmandaYoung
Oct 19 2013, 10:06 PM
I won't lie.. I find school shootings horrific,
Me too. And from reading about them, one thing they all have in common is that students don't just stand around waiting to get shot or slowly walk into gunfire like they're in some arthouse wank-fest.

This movie pissed me off.
Even the CW can get that right ._.
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The Conjuring
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Derek 2.0.
I liked this movie but I haven't seen it when it came out on DVD. My mom bought it for us cause she's a school teacher and has known people who have family members who have been in shootings I believe. The look was wonderful and the acting was perfect but it's not a masterpiece.

It's not really that bad. I've seen worse movies. :/
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Forget about the bloody gods and lsiten to what I'm telling you
Watched the shooting scene
I think this film qualifies as genuinely offensive. It's that bad
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Smeagollum
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And you didn't even sit through the hours of "people walking" scenes to get there.
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