JFK Review Revisited (Part 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, since today is the 62nd anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I thought I would revisit my previous post (or posts) once again on the Olvier Stone epic drama based on the trial of the assassination of JFK by district attorney of Louisana, Jim Garrison, starring Kevin Costner in the lead role. 

So, this post is already a very big one, so I will try and not add too much to expand it beyond necessary but as its an anniversary post, I figured why not take a look at it again. So, I might as well warn that this post is a BIG one. 

And the usual warning is coming up...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the story starts with pre-credits explaining the events leading up to Kennedy's assassination (narrated by Martin Sheen) from the start of his time in office, to his murder.  On the day of the assassination, in New Orleans, District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is informed by one of his staff Lou Barnes (Jay Sanders) of the crime.  After Kennedy's death is announced officially on television, the suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) is arrested and taken to the Dallas police station for questioning.

Garrison then plans to investigate any suspects and associates of Lee Harvey Oswald's that might be under his jurisdiction in New Orleans, however before he can do that, Oswald is assassinated live on TV by Dallas mob man Jack Ruby (Brian Doyle Murray).  Regardless of Oswald's shock assassination, Garrison brings in one of Oswald's alleged known associates, David Ferrie (Joe Pesci) who naturally denies he ever knew Oswald.  However Ferrie gives a very shaky account of his activities on the day of the assassination which Garrison doesn't believe and has Ferrie detained for more questioning by the FBI, regardless of this though Ferrie is let go, after which Garrison decides not to continue investigating any further.

Three years later in 1966, after sharing a conversation with a senator, Russell Long (played by Walter Matthau) on an airplane, Garrison starts to have serious doubts and suspicions about the events of the assassination and that Oswald was the lone gunman.  So, Garrison starts to dig around and he reads the Warren Report which was published by Warren Commission and conducted by chief judge Earl Warren (played by Garrison himself).  However Garrison is far from impressed with the report as he feels it is riddled with inaccuracies and is sloppy and disorganised.  So it is not long before Garrison decides to re-open the investigation of the crime himself.

Garrison then with his small team, begin to question many different witnesses to the shooting, and potential suspects that may have been connected to the assassination.  As Garrison and his team investigate further, a name that keeps popping up is Clay Bertrand, who is later revealed to be Clay Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) a well respected businessman and entrepeneur.

However on bringing Shaw in for questioning, Shaw categorically denies any knowledge of Oswald, Ferrie or any one else potentially involved in the conspiracy, as well as denying his Clay Bertrand alias, which annoys Garrison, who accuses him of being connected to the assassination.  But soon after their meeting, Garrison's investigation is made public and soon the press and media come down hard on him.  Now forced to operate out in the open, Garrison faces tough choices ahead of him in carrying out his investigation, after receiving various death threats, crank calls, and narrowly escaping frame ups to discredit him.

Eventually after rigorous investigations, including a discussion with an ex-military figure who simply calls himself "X" (Donald Sutherland) who provides him with important background knowledge to the events surrounding the assassination, Garrison decides to arrest Shaw and prosecute him for his possible involvement in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.

And what follows after this is a lengthy trial sequence where Garrison presents his case for the prosecution of Clay Shaw as well as his speculation on the events on the day of the assassination in Dallas. 

THOUGHTS ON THE FILM AND THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES

JFK is without a doubt a great achievement in its own, as Oliver Stone took a controversial subject and turned into a fascinating, gripping and intelligent film.  If you look at the events and evidence that are presented in the film, it certainly does a fine job at convincing you that there was a possible conspiracy involved.  Jim Garrison himself showed tremendous moral courage and character in bringing such a trial to the public eye, as he himself faced great danger in enraging the government and endangering his own life in the process.

However Garrison is never potrayed as anything else other than a very decent man who in reality at first was never really keen on Kennedy at the time but during his investigation came to admire him for what he stood for during his time as the president before his untimely tragic death.  Oliver Stone himself based the film on Jim Garrison's book, "On The Trail of the Assassins" (which details Garrison's trial to prosecute Clay Shaw) as well as "Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy" by Jim Marrs.

But whether or not a conspiracy took place in Dallas that day or not, no one really knows, but the film certainly does its best to convince the viewer that there was one.  One of key aspects of the assassination as highlighted in the film was that it seemed highly unlikely that Oswald could have fired 3 shots that from the book depository window, in such a short space of time (5-7 seconds), and do it with such precision from the distance he was at from the motorcade.  And that is where the other riflemen come into the equation and the scenario of a team that would be able to place themselves in fixed positions to ensure the assassination would be carried out precisely.

Another crucial crux of the film and the case was, there had to be more than just 3 shots, as if for no better reason, there were four known wounds, three to Kennedy (in the throat, back and head) and one to Governor Conally (one in the back).  This is where the Warren Commission presented the ridiculous "magic bullet" theory that one bullet accounted for the wounds between Connally and Kennedy, which was written by Arlen Specter, an assistant counsel for the commission. 

Also based from the facts given from the film, it seems unlikely that if after Oswald committed the crime, that he would be able race down the stairs in about 90 seconds, only to face a police officer who was checking out the building, to ask whom he was, and appear not to be out of breath, which the policeman testified later that Oswald was absolutely not out of breath. There is also the issue of car salesman, James Tague, who was struck by a fragment of one of the bullets on his cheek, who later testified that he believed it to have been the second shot that was fired, causing his wound.

Another theory however that has been stated over the years was the final headshot that killed Kennedy was in fact fired by one of the secret service agents, George Hickey in one of the car's behind Kennedy's parade car in which Hickey accidentally fired off a round from his M16 gun in the confusion which caused the fatal head shot that killed Kennedy.  Then there is the film footage, taken by an onlooker Abraham Zapruder, which shows the assassination itself, and gives possible clues of the direction of where the bullets came from.

Another key point was surely, if Oswald was even the lone gunman, he would not have acted alone, as he must been acting on behalf of powerful people behind the scenes, in this regard Oswald himself could well have been a sleeper cell, who was set in motion at the key moment, but again this is just a bit of speculation, but I personally have never bought into the possibility that Oswald was just as Garrison says in the film "an angry lone nut" who carried out the assassination purely by himself.  However in recent years the theory involving Hickey is considered to be more accurate given that the type of shot fired from his M16 machine gun was far more powerful and destructive than the first two shots fired at Kennedy. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)
 

So, moving onto the performances, well this is where JFK really excels as a film with a superb cast.

And starting with Kevin Costner who gives a fine performance as the DA Jim Garrison, who takes on the daunting task of bringing the JFK assassination to trial, he also shows Garrison as being a very moral man, as well as being very strong and stubborn in the face of adversity. And Costner delivers some pretty hefty monologues and delivers them very well throughout the film, particularly in his courtroom scenes.

Costner has many highlights in the film that include the scene where Garrison opens up the case off the assassination again as he takes two of his staff, Bill and Lou on a walkabout of New Orleans government locations.

So, Garrison in the scene says to them both "We are standing in the heart...of the US government's intelligence community in New Orleans.That's the FBl. That's the CIA. That's the Secret Service. That's the ONI. Isn't this a strange place for a Communist to spend his spare time?!".  And Lou asks Garrison "What ya drivin at boss?" and Garrison tells him "We're going back into the case, Lou.  The murder of the president".  And as they walk off, Bill sighs and says "Lord wake me up, I must be dreaming!" and Garrison says to him "No, you're awake and I'm deadly serious!".

Then there is the scene as Garrison finishes up his tense meeting with Shaw, Shaw says to him "Regardless of what you may think of me, I am a patriot first and foremost".  However, Garrison then furiously tells Shaw "I've spent half my life in the military...defending my country, Mr Shaw. You're the first person I've met who considered it an act of partriotism to murder his own President!".  Bill then steps and diffuses the tension and ends the meeting and after Shaw walks out, Garrison looks on and quotes from Shakespeare's Hamlet "One may smile and smile and be a villain".  Then he says to his team "Goddamnit, we've got one of them!  You see that?!".

Another highlight of Costner's is when Garrison and his wife argue and as she yells at him "I want my life back!" he shouts back "So do I, goddamnit!  I have a life too you know!  But you can't just bury your head in the sand like some ostrich, Liz!  Its not about our house, our two cars, and our kitchen!  Its about our kids growing up in a shithole of lies and I'm angry about it!  And my life is fucked because of it, and if you can see it that way then you're life is fucked too!".

Costner also has some other good moments such as the scene where he argues with one of his staff, Bill Broussard (Michael Rooker) who argues that the mob could have been behind the assassination and Garrison refutes the idea.  And Garrison says "Could the mob change the parade route, Bill?  Could the mob influence the national media to go to sleep?  I mean could the mob get Oswald into and Russia and get him back???  And when have the mob used anything but 38.s for hits up close???  The mob wouldn't have the guts or power for something of this magnetude!  Assassins need paryolls, schedules, times, orders!  This was a military style ambush!  This was a coupe de'tat with Lyndon Johnson waiting in the wings!".

And as Bill tries to refute what Garrison says, Garrison then asks Bill "You ever read your Shakespare, Bill?" and Bill says "Yeah, I do!".  Garrison then quotes from Julius Caesar "Julius Caesar? "Brutus and Cassius, they too are honorable men." Who killed Caesar? Ten or twelve Senators. All it takes is one Judas, Bill. A few people on the inside. Pentagon, CIA!".  And after Bill angrily storms out, Garrison then has it out with Lou, who gives Garrison his ultimatum that he can't work with Bill anymore as he doesn't trust him.  So, Garrison says to Lou "Well, I won't have any damn ultimatum put to me, Lou.  I'll accept your resignation".  Lou then leaves and we hear Suzie says to Garrison "Boss, aren't you bein a little hard?" and Garrison tells her "No, I don't think I am, Suzie.  Anyone else??". 

Then there is of course Costner's very lengthy court monologue, which features some great moments such as where Garrison discusses the ridiculous nature of the magic bullet theory which he describes as "One of the grossest lies ever forced on the American people!".  And after he explains the supposed wounds created by the bullet he says to the jury "That's some bullet!  But the government says they can prove it with some fancy physics in a nuclear laboratory.  Of course they can.  Pheoretical physics can prove an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy!  But use your eyes and your common sense!".

Then there is the scene where Garrison shows the footage of the murder and he says at the moment of the fatal head shot to Kennedy we see Kennedy fall violently back and to the left.  So, Garrison says to the court "This is the key shot. The President going back and to his left...shot from the front and right. Totally inconsistent with the shot from the Depository.  Again. Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left" as the footage is repeated just as Kennedy takes the fatal headshot.  And Garrison then says "So what happens then? Pandemonium!".

And last of all there is the part near the end of Costner's epic monologue to the jury and where Garrison becomes emotional and shows the court members a collection of money and cards from the public being sent to his office.  So, Garrison tearfully tells them "These are people who cannot afford to send money but do! People who drive cabs...who nurse in hospitals...who see their kids go to Vietnam!".  Garrison then becomes very emotional and tries to hold back the tears as his voice breaks  "Why?!  Because they care. Because they want to know the truth. Because they want their country back. Because it still belongs to us! As long as the people have the guts to fight for what they believe in!"

And Garrison finally finishes off his emotional speech to the court and says "Do not forget your dying king.  Show this world that this is still a government of the people, for the people and by the people.  Nothing as long as you live will ever be more important.  Its up to you" and he goes back to sit down to await the verdict of his case.    

Joe Pesci also gives a standout performance as Dave Ferrie, the crazed suspect (replete with a ridiculous wig and eyebrows and a rather exagerrated Southern accent!) who later admits to his involvement with Oswald, as he shows a mixture of malice and remorse.

Pesci also has some great moments as the paranoid Ferrie and his first scene is great when Ferrie is taken into Garrison's office for questioning over his whereabouts of the weekend of the assassination, but Ferrie's story is filled with holes, so Garrison detains him for further questioning.  And Ferrie asks why and Garrison replies "Dave I find your story simply not believable!" and Ferrie appears surprised and says "Really?!  What part?".

Another good scene from Pesci is in the flashback scene where Willie O'Keefe recalls a time where Ferrie had a party with Shaw, O'Keefe and some others as Ferrie discusses a potential assassination plot on JFK.  So, Ferrie in the scene angrily says to the others and he holds a knife "I will kill! In the White House! I'll stab him right in his fucking heart!" and throws the knife he was holding down and says "Somebody's gotta get rid of this fucker!".  Ferrie then pitches a potential plan to take out Kennedy and he says "If it's planned right, no problem. Look how close they got to De Gaulle. Eisenhower always rode in open top. We need three mechanics in three different locations. An office building, a high-powered rifle. Triangulation of crossfire, that's the key! That's the key! A diversionary shot gets the Secret Service looking one way. Boom! Get the kill shot! One man has to be sacrificed. In the commotion, the job gets done!". 

Then there is the scene where Ferrie calls Lou from a pay phone just after Garrison's investigation is leaked into the press, which affects him as he sees press hanging around his apartment nearby.  So, Ferrie angrily phones up and Lou and asks him "Did your office plant that garbage in the fuckin paper?!" and Lou asks "Who is this?" and Ferrie shouts "You know exactly who the FUCK this is!!". Lou then realises its Ferrie and Ferrie asks him angrily "Since you're the only straight shoot in that fucking office, I'd like a fucking answer! Did you plant it?!". Lou then explains that is the last thing they wanted and Ferrie continues to angrily rant at Lou "Somebody planted that fuckin story! Somebody tipped off the press! I'm one of fucking Garrison's suspects!". Ferrie then angrily hits the phone receiver against the phone box and shouts "I CAN'T GO HOME!! The fuckin maggots are everywhere! Did you know what they've done to me??!". Lou then tries to calm Ferrie down and tells him not to jump to conclusions but Ferrie insists "From hereon I'm a fucking dead man! A DEAD MAN!!".

And lastly there is Pesci's best scene in the film where Ferrie in a state of panic and paranoia nervously paces a hotel room where Garrison and his men keep him after a newspaper article is released implicating Ferrie.

And in the scene Ferrie babbles saying "But who the fuck pulls who's chain?!  Who the fuck knows?  "Oh what a deadly web we weave and we practice to decieve!".  And Garrison asks him who killed the president which sets off Ferrie into a demented rant "Oh why don't you fuckin stop it?!  This is too fuckin big for you, you know that?!  Who killed Kennedy... fuck man!  Its a mystery, its a riddle wrapped inside an enigma!  The fuckin shooters don't even know it, don't you get it?!  FUCK MAN!!  I can't go on talking like this!  THEY'LL FUCKIN KILL ME!  I'M GONNA FUCKING DIE!".  And Ferrie goes on to lament about how he wanted to become a catholic priest but was defrocked because of his homosexuality and he sits back saying "I'm so fucking exhausted I can't see straight!".   

Tommy Lee Jones gives an excellent performance also as Clay Shaw, and he depicts as a very sly businessman, who is clearly also very manipulative and Jones appears to revel in playing up the transparent villainous qualities of the character.

Jones has some great moment also such as the scene when Willy O'Keefe recalls to Garrison a meeting Willy had with Shaw, Oswald and Ferrie, where Ferrie conspires to kill Kennedy and suggests how they could do it and Shaw dismisses him and says "David!  David!  Always some harebrained scheme or other!".  And Shaw says to Ferrie after he lays down his plot to kill Kennedy "What don't we drop this subject.  Its one thing to engage in banter with these youngsters, but this sort of thing can get so easily misunderstood!" before crushing Ferrie's testicles to shut him up! 

And in his best and main scene Jones as Shaw refutes every accusation that Garrison makes at him as he keeps asking if he met with David Ferrie or Oswald and Shaw is aghast and says "You really have me assorting with a sordid cast of characters!".  Garrison then asks him "Have you ever met Lee Harvey-Oswald?" and Shaw says "Course not!  Such a pity that assassination.  In fact I admired Kennedy.  Man of true panache. Wife of impeccable taste!".

Then as they are about to finish up, Garrison finally asks Shaw "Have you ever been a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency?".  And Shaw just stares at Garrison for a moment and says "If I were...do you really believe I would sitting here, talking to someone like you???".  Garrison then says "No.  People like you don't have to, I guess!" and Shaw asks "May I go?" and Garrison, riled continues "People like you just walk between the rain drops!" and Shaw again asks "May I go?" and Garrison says "Yes".  So, Shaw puts out his cigarette and stands up and says to Garrison "Regardless of what you may think of me, Mr Garrison, I am a patriot first and foremost...".  And as Garrison accuses Shaw of considering an act of patriotism to murder the president, Shaw angrily says "Now wait a minute, sir you are way out of line!".   

The other smaller character performances in the film are equally impressive, such as Michael Rooker as Bill Broussard, one of Garrison's staff, who appears to turn on Garrison near the end. The character of Bill was in fact fictional and based on real life ex-CIA agent, William C. Wood, who did work for Garrison for a time before he was fired. 
 
Rooker also has some good scenes, such as the one where Garrison takes Bill and Lou on a walking tour around the locations of the government intelligence community in New Orleans and setting them up for the news that he is taking on the case of the assassination.  So as Garrisons says to Lou "We're going back into the case, Lou.  The murder of the president" Bill says "Oh, Lord wake me up I must be dreaming!" and Garrison says "No, you're awake, Bill and I'm deadly serious! Let's track down your anonymous source from three years ago. How'd you find out David Ferrie drove to Texas that day?".  And Bill replies "Hell, I can't remember last night let alone three years ago, boss!". 

Let's track down your anonymous source
from three years ago.
How'd you find out David Ferrie drove
to Texas that day?

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=jfk

Another good scene is when (SPOILER!!) Garrison turns up at the scene of Ferrie's apartment where they find him dead and two unsigned suicide notes, which Bill reads from one of them.  And Lou advises Garrison "The fact is, he's gone, chief and so is our case.  Unless we go for Shaw now".  However, Bill angrily says to Lou "With whose testimony?! O'Keefe, a male prostitute?! Jack Martin, a drunk?! Vernon Bundy, a dope fiend?! Shaw's got respect, Lou! Newspaper editors, American Bar Association...!".  However Lou angrily says to Bill if they keep on waiting then Shaw will also be killed and how many corpses will it take for him to figure it out, So, Bill shouts back "Watch your mouth!  Ferrie did this to himself!".  At this point, Garrison walks off and Bill asks him "Where are you going, boss?" and Garrison says "I don't know, Bill...I just don't know...!".  

Then there is the scene where Bill tries to persuade Garrison that he is taking the wrong route and he rants at Garrison and the team.  So, Bill shouts at them "How the hell can you keep a conspiracy going...between the mob, CIA, FBl, Army intelligence and who knows what else...when you can't keep a secret in this room between 12 people?!!  I mean, we got leaks everywhere. We are going to trial, y'all! What the hell do we really got?! Oswald, Ruby, Banister, and Ferrie are dead!  Maybe Shaw is an agent. I don't know. But as a covert operator, he is wide open for blackmail because of his homosexuality!".

Then as Bill lays down his theory about the mob being behind the assassination, Garrison acknowledges they may have been involved but at a much lower level and he goes on to even implicate the then current president, Lyndon Johnson.  And Bill, who is outraged yells at Garrison "BOSS!! BOSS!! Are you callin the president a murderer!".  Garrison then asks Bill if they aren't so close to the truth why are their offices being bugged and their witnesses being bought off or murdered.  And Bill says "I don't know!  Maybe there is some rogue element in the government or something!" but Garrison then asks if Bill reads his Shakespeare and quotes "Julius Caesar" and how it takes just "One Judas, Bill". 

So, Bill get's fed up and says before storming out of the office "This is Louisiana, chief!  I mean how the hell do you know who your daddy is??!  Because your momma told you so!  You are way out there taking a crap in the wind, boss!  And I am for one not goin along on this one!".

Jay Sanders is also excellent as Lou Ivon, who was in reality one of Garrison's key members of staff although the film depicts Lou as quitting the investigation, according to Stone in his DVD commentary in reality he didn't. I mistakenly called Lou by an incorrect surname in previous posts, as I said it was Barnes but it is in fact Ivon, so apologies for that! 

Sanders also has some good moments such as the scene where Lou and Garrison are at the book despository building with the rifle that Oswald used and he does a demo of firing and reload the empty rifle and he goes over the specifics of the improbabilities of Oswald being able to pull off three precise shots.  And Lou says "Take this Carcano, world's worst shoulder weapon...and try to hit a moving target at 88 yards through heavy foliage. No way!  FBI tried two sets of tests. Not one sharpshooter could match Oswald's performance. Not one! Oswald was at best a medium shot. The scope was defective on it too. This is the whole essence of the case to me. The guy couldn't do the shooting! Nobody could. And they sold this lemon to the American public". 

And when Garrison asks Lou why didn't they just shoot Kennedy as his parade car drove on Houston, which was a more direct line of fire for a single shooter, Lou tells him his theory regarding why they chose the route they did for the kill.  So, Lou says "The only reason to get him on Elm...is you got him in a triangulated crossfire. You put a team there down at the fence. Frontal shot. Flat, low trajectory. Put a third team down in this building on a low floor. When Kennedy gets in the kill zone, it's a turkey shoot!".

And lastly there is the scene where Lou demands to Garrison that he can no longer work with Bill because he doesn't trust he says "I cannot work with Bill Broussard anymore" and when Garrison asks if he is giving him an ultimatum, Lou says "Well if that's what you wanna call it?!  Hell I never thought it would come to this.  I guess I am".  And Garrison says "Well, I won't have any damn ultimatum put to me, Lou.  I'll accept your resignation".  Lou then looks stunned and says "Well you sure got it!" and before he walks out he says to Garrison "You are one stubborn son of a bitch!  And you are making one hell of a mistake". 

Laurie Metcalf as Susie, another staff member, is also very good and she has some good moments in the film, the main one being where Garrison's team meet for lunch and she goes over the file history of Oswald's character and background.

Laurie has some good moments as well such as the scene where Susie meets with Garrison and the other team members for lunch and she reads out all the info she has on Oswald.  And she says to the others "I've got his grammar school records.  Its a study of his pubic hairs!" as well as revealing her anxiety over how a spy aircraft was shot down and maybe someone didn't want the peace conference between the Russians and the Americans.  And Susie says to the others "I can't help but think that someone in our military didn't want the conference to happen.  Maybe Oswald was a part of that!".

And later on Metcalf has another good moment where she says to Bill, who has been gotten to by the Government at this point (unawares to Garrison and the others) "Or a cover up???  Jesus Bill, don't you have enough proof of the FBI's complicity yet?!!".  And after Bill storms out and Lou resigns from the case, Susie asks Garrison "Boss, aren't you being a little hard?" and Garrison replies "No, I don't think I am, Susie.  Anyone else?".   

Also Kevin Bacon, is excellent as Willie O'Keefe (who in reality was based on one of Garrison's key witnesses, Perry Russo) the gay prostitute who claimed to have known and had sexual relations with Shaw.

And Bacon's main scene is quite impressive where Willie recalls meeting Oswald and his involvement with Shaw and Ferrie.  And as Garrison asks Willie if he will testify and if he does what he says will be attacked by different people and Willie dismisses it and says "Oh bring all those motherfuckers on in here with their college degrees!  I've got nothing to hide!  You know this about the truth coming out!  You goddamn liberal, Mr Garrison, you don't know shit because you never been fucked in the ass!  This is about order!  Who rules!".

Garrison then asks Willie why he is telling them this and Willie says "Cause that motherfucker Kennedy...stole that motherfucking election, that's why. Nixon was going to be a great President until Kennedy wrecked this country. N******wanting rights! Why do you think we have all this crime. He promised those motherfuckers too much! Revolution's coming, bullshit! Fascism's coming back! The day that Communist son of a bitch died was a great day!  A GREAT day for this country! I hate to think they blame it on silly, fucking Oswald!  Didn't know shit, anyway, man! People got to know. People got to know why he was killed.  Because he was a Communist".  Willie then finishes by saying "Go ahead, man.  Put me on the stand, man.  I'll tell the same goddamn story!  Don't matter fuck all to me!". 

And Bacon finishes the scene with Garrison saying "Thank you, Willie.  We'll be in touch".  And as Garrison walks off with Bill, Willie shouts out "You know you ain't a bad looking man, Mr Garrison.  Not bad lookin at all!  When I get out, I'll come see you, we can have some fun!".     

Sissy Spacek is also very good in her role as Garrison's with Liz, who has to suffer her husband's obssessions with the JFK case throughout the film.  And Sissy's best scene comes when Liz argues with Garrison after their daughter recieves a crank call from someone saying she has been entered into a beauty contest.  However, Garrison is less interested as he watches the breaking news that Martin Luther King was assassinated on TV.

However, Liz anxiously asks Garrison "Did you enter Virginia in a beauty contest? A man called and asked her height, her weight..." and Garrison simply answers "Its just some crackpot...".  Liz then angrily says "Jim, you're own daughter's life has just been threatened!" but Garrison insists "Its just a crank call.  It happens a dozen times a day at the office!". Liz, however continues "Before this Kennedy thing, your children mattered most. The other night you didn't even notice Jasper. He came to me bawling his eyes out. Is it such a chore?!".  Garrison then angrily responds "GODDAMNIT!  If I said I will spend more time with him I will!  Now, I can't fight you and the whole world too, Liz!" and Liz says "I'm not fighting you, I'm trying to reach you!  You've changed!".

And Garrison says of course he has changed and that what he sees around him is insane and asks her doesn't Martin Luther King's murder have a connection with JFK and he picks up a book at points at the TV and shouts "Can't you see???!!!".  Liz however is exasperated with Garrison and says "I don't wanna see, goddamnit!  I'm tired!  I've had enough!" and then she speaks of Shaw "You're runing this man Shaw's life.  You're attacking him because he's a homosexual!" but Garrison insists "That's not why I'm attacking him!".  Liz then asks Garrison "Did you ever stop to consider his feelings?!" and Garrison looks at her in disbelief and says "You don't believe me?!  All this time and you never believed me!".  And Liz emotionally says "I just want to raise our children and live a normal life. I WANT MY LIFE BACK!".  

Last of all is the scene where just after the news of RFK being assassinated is revealed on TV, a shaken Garrison goes upstairs to Liz, who is in bed and he tells her the news. So, in the scene, Garrison tells Liz "Its over honey, Bobby Kennedy, they killed him" and Liz shocked says "Oh my God! Both brothers??? You were right. It hadn't ended". 

Donald Sutherland is similarly great as the mysterious "X" who delivers a very lengthy 17 minute dialogue giving Garrison the background info surrounding the events leading up to the assassination. The character of X was in fact based on a former US army Colonel, L. Fletcher Prouty, who was also an adviser for the film. 

And Sutherland's monologue is so lengthy that is hard to pick some examples, but I will mention just a few.

For starters there is the moment where X first introduces himself to Garrison and when Garrison asks his name, X says "I could give you a false name but I won't. Just call me "X".  Garrison then says to X that he has already been warned by the agency and if this is another threat but then X interrupts him and says "I'm not with the agency, Mr Garrison. But I'm not going to give you names of who or what I represent, just to say that you're close. You're closer than you think".  

So in the scene, Garrison is stunned by all the info that X has bombarded him with and Garrison says to X "I can't believe it, they killed him cos they wanted to change things...in our time....in our country?".  And X smiles and says "They've done it throughout history!  Kings are killed, Mr Garrison!  Politics is power, nothing more! Don't take my word for it. Do your own thinking".  Garrison then asks X if he will testify and X smiles and says "No chance in hell! No, I'd be arrested and gagged. Maybe sent to an institution.Maybe worse. You too. I can give you the background. You find the foreground, the little things. Dig, you're the only one to bring a trial in Kennedy's murder. That's important. It's historic!".

And as Garrison says he hasn't much of a case, X says "You don't have a choice anymore.  You've become a significant threat to the national security structure!  They would have killed you already but you've got alot of light on you.  Instead they are trying to destroy your credibility.  Be honest, your only chance is to come up with a case.  Something, anything!  Make arrests, stir the shit storm, hope to reach a point of critical mass that will start a chain reaction of people coming forward then the government will crack.  Remember, fundamentall people are suckers for the truth, and the truth is on your side, Bubba.  I just hope you get a break" and he walks off leaving Garrison to contemplate the overwhelming information he has just learned.

Also there is the superb Jack Lemmon as Jack Martin, an assistant to a private eye detective, Guy Banister, who is great in his role as the down and out drunk, who Garrison approaches earlier on in the film.  And Jack tells Garrison what happened in Guy's office during the summer of 63 and Jack recalls "Hell, Guy's dead, so it don't matter no more. It was all about those...people that was hanging around the office that summer. I was never part of the operation. I just handled their private-eye work as it came in for Guy. Not much did, but that's why I was there. It was a nuthouse. Cubans coming, going. And Christ, they all looked the same to me".  And we cut to seeing Guy's office, which is filled with Cubans as well as David Ferrie being there dressed in commando gear.  Guy then says "David Ferrie...you know him?" and Garrison says "Yeah, we know Dave.  Was he there?" and Jack exclaims "Christ!  He practically lived there!".

Then toward the end of the scene when Garrison asks Jack if there was anyone else at Guy's level that Guy dealt with, so Jack tries to recall Clay Shaw's name as we see a flashback of Shaw being warmly greeted by Guy, who invites him into his office.  So, Jack tries to remember "One guy. I don't know who. Big. White hair. I saw him in the office once. He looked out of place. You know, a society guy. Can't remember his name, but Oswald was with him. He had something to do with money, because Banister never kissed ass but he kissed his!" and he chuckles.  Then as Jack says "Clay...something..." and Garrison offers "Clay Bertrand?" Jack suddenly says "Yeah!" but then suddenly panics as he feels he has said too much and he backtracks and says "Yeah, well I don't know...". 

So, as Jack tries to leave, Garrison asks "Was Kennedy ever discussed, Jack? The assassination?" and Jack anxiously says "No, never! Not with me!". And Garrison stops Jack and asks "What is the problem?" and Jack says "What's the problem?!  Do I have to spell it out for you, Mr Garrison?!".  And as Garrison says "No one knows we're talking about here, Jack" Jack just stares at Garrison in disbelief and says "You are so niave!" and he walks off.

Ed Asner is also good in his brief role as Guy Banister the private eye, who was a former FBI man and was said to be closely linked to behind the scenes of the assassination, but Banister died shortly after in 1964.

Asner has a couple of good scenes, particularly his first scene where he cheers Kennedy's death in a bar and he says "All this blubbing over that no count son of a bitch!  They're balling like they knew the man!".  Guy then cynically says "That's what happens when you let the n****** vote. They get together with the Jews and the Catholics...and elect an Irish bleeding heart!".  Jack then says "Chief, maybe you had too much to drink" and Guy says "Bullshit!" and he raises his glass and says "Here's to the New Frontier. Camelot in smithereens. I'll drink to that!" and he empty his drink on the floor.

And as Guy and Jack walk drunkenly back to Guy's office, Guy accuses Jack of going through his files when he isn't there.  So, Guy says "Who's been going through my files? You've been looking through my files, you little weasel!". Jack then tries to laugh it off and says "You're becoming paranoid, you really are!" but Guy continues "You went through all my files! You're a goddamn spy!".  Jack denies it and says he's already seen enough during the summer to write a book, which really makes Guy paranoid.  So, Guy angrily accuses him "What do you mean, you bastard? You're going to write a book?!".  And as Jack says he's seen alot of strange things and people there, Guy suddenly takes out a pistol and hits Jack with it and yells at him "You didn't see a goddamn thing, you little weasel!  YOU DIDN'T SEE A GODDAMN THING!!!".

John Candy is also great in his role as the sleazy lawyer, Dean Andrews who apparently met with Oswald and spoke with Shaw but he refutes any claims that he knows the identity of Shaw who used the alias of Clay Bertrand.

So, as Garrison pressures Dean to answer his question as to who Clay Bertrand really is, Dean asks Garrison "Are we off the record, Daddio?" and Garrison shrugs to say "yes", so Dean says "Well, let me sum it up for you real quick!".  So, Dean lights a cigarette and anxiously says "If I answer that question you keep asking...if I give you the name of the big enchilada...then it's bon voyage, Deano. Like a bullet in my head, you dig? You're a mouse fighting a gorilla. JFK's dead as that crabmeat. The government's still breathing!  Do you want to line up with a dead man?!". 

And at the end of the scene as Garrison threatens Dean by saying "You're either gonna reveal the true identity of the real Clay Bertrand, or you fat behind is going to the slammer.  Now, you dig me?!".  And Dean suddenly stands up and shouts "You're crazy as your mama!!! Goes to show its in the genes!  You any idea what you're getting yourself into, Daddio?!".  Dean then stands up and puts his hat on as he prepares to leave and he tells Garrison "The government is gonna jump all over your head, Jimbo, and go cocka-doodle-doo!  Good day to your, sir!" and he walks out.     

Brian Doyle Murray is excellent in his role as Jack Ruby, the mobster, who killed Oswald live on television, the following day after the assassination.

And Murray's main scene is when Ruby meets with Chief Judge, Earl Warren (played by Garrison himself) in prison and Ruby tells Warren "Mr. Chief Justice, do you understand that I can't tell the truth in Dallas? There are people here who do not want me to tell the truth".  Warren then asks to Ruby "Why don't you tell us now?" and Ruby angrily responds "My life is in danger!  If you request that I go to Washington... That is, if you want to hear further testimony from me. Can you take me with you?!".  Warren responds by saying "No. It can't be done.  There would be no safe place for you".

Ruby then says "If I'm eliminated...there won't be any way of knowing any bit of truth pertaining to my situation. Consequently, a whole new form of government will take over. Yeah!  And I won't live to see you some other time!".  And then we cut to a scene of a covered up body being wheeled out, suggesting that this is Ruby and Ruby's last words are "You see I want to tell the truth. And then...I wanna leave this world....".

And last but by no means least, there is Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald.  Oldman is great as Oswald, and potrays him as a complex and private man, who remained a mystery even after his death.  Gary Oldman also facially resembles Oswald a fair bit, and does an excellent job at reproducing his unusual American accent, which had a tinge of Russian to it.

And Oldman has his own share of good scenes although alot of them are flashbacks and they do feature quotes of dialogue taken from Oswald's public arrest on TV as he says to the press that "I didn't shoot anyone, no sir.  They have taken me in just because I defected to the Soviet union.  I am just a patsy!".  And later in Oswald's televised press conference at the police station he tells them "I really don't know...what this situation is about. Nobody has told me anything except that I am accused...of murdering a policeman. I know nothing more than that. I do request someone to come forward...to give me legal assistance".

Another good scene is in the flashback where Oswald is shown the cover of the "Life" magazine with Oswald holding the rifle, which is clearly a fake composite image as his head looks superimposed onto the body.  So, Oswald looks angrily at the magazine cover and says "This is not me! I never saw this picture. It's my face but it's superimposed. The rest is not me. I have done alot of photographic work. That picture was made by someone else!".  And one of the police asks Oswald of his alias, Alex Hydell "So, who the hell are you? Alex Hydell or Lee Harvey-Oswald?" and Oswald says "Well, you're the policeman you figure it out!".

And lastly there is the flashback scene where after Oswald supposedly murdered a policeman not long after the assassination, he makes his way into a cinema to evade the police.  However soon after, the police arrive to arrest Oswald and they are lead into the cinema by a shoe store owner, who spotted Oswald.  So, as the police approach Oswald, he says to himself "This is it!" and he suddenly leaps up and punches one of the officers and they pounce on him and cuff him and Oswald shouts "I'm not resisting arrest!  I'm not resisting arrest!".  

I never saw this picture.
It's my face but it's superimposed.
The rest is not me.
I know photographic work.
That picture was made by someone else!

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=jDIRECTOR AND MUSIC  

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

So finally moving onto the direction, Oliver Stone does a terrific job here and he keeps the viewer engrossed throughout as he presents the film's arguments in a very convincing fashion and he also makes great use of some frantic camera work as he combines a mixture of black and white footage and colour mixed in with the film itself. He also makes good use of high and low quality 8mm and 35mm film (also presumably 16mm film thrown in there too!) as well as real life footage of the assassination and other historical footage.

Stone's screenplay is also a great achievement in itself as it is very intelligent and well researched for the most part although it does create some composite characters based on real life witnesses so there might be the odd bit of licence taken here and there.  Despite all this though it doesn't detract from JFK being one of Stone's highlights from his acclaimed career. 

As for the music, there is a terrific film score by John Williams (who also previously worked with Stone on his Vietnam drama, Born on the 4th of July) and the score is both suspenseful and atmopsheric throughout and features many excellent tracks, particularly the main theme.  Williams himself then struggled to write a full score for the film as he initially composed six tracks and later added further musical cues.  This was due to the fact that he was working on Steven Spielberg's film Hook (starring Robin Williams) at this time. 

UPDATE: Its also worth giving a shout out to the military drumming track that appears during the titles, which was performed by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, which is also great. The track itself is named on the soundtrack as the "Drummer's Salute" and is a traditional military piece that would arranged by British composer, D.G. McCroskie.  

It also has to be said that Williams score has been mimicked in other film scores as well (such as in Tom Cruise's thriller, The Firm) and it remains as one of his more unique scores, which is well worth a listen even on its own. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

So does JFK have any flaws?????  Well JFK does have a few here and there.

And for starters I feel the film bombards you with too much information at times, so it definitely takes a few viewings to get the gist of all the details.  This is especially the case as Stone tries to condense down the details of the trial and Garrison's investigations into three hours which makes taking it all in within that space of time even more difficult in one viewing.   

And another thing I would say about the film that probably lets it down slightly is the melodrama of Garrison's home life, as he argues with his wife Elizabeth (Sissy Spacek) who is frustrated by the amount of time he devotes to the case.  And in the film Spacek pretty much delivers samey lines such as "Before Kennedy nothing mattered more in this world to you than your children!" and "What about your kids, Jim?!!!" and "Jasper was looking for you, bawling his little eyes out!" etc.  It is however key to the film as well I guess, as it is important to show how the events of the investigation impacted on Garrison's personal life, and later in reality, his first wife Elizabeth did divorce him.  Stone later said that the fights between Garrison and his wife were based on rows that he had with his own wife (also named Elizabeth) at the time in their strained marriage (not sure if that was to do with his own obssession with this project!) as they later divorced in 1993.

Another slight problem with the film, and probably the case in general is there is not much evidence that cold links Shaw to knowing Oswald, as it ultimately is just the word of people who have witnessed seeing Shaw and Oswald together in the past with not much if any in the way of photographic evidence or otherwise.  And this seems to largely boil down to the fact the witnesses involved were either murdered or simply discredited or bribed.   

However it was later revealed in 1978, four years after Shaw's death, by the CIA director of the time, Richard Helms, that Shaw did actually work for the CIA as a contractor (this was added in as an insert at the end of the film) which Helms testified to under oath.  And based on the Richard Helms testimony, it proved that Shaw was guilty of perjury. Either way, in reality and in the film, Shaw ultimately evaded prosecution for his possible involvement in the assassination. 

The film also seems to do its damndest to imply the current government's complicity at the time of the trial as well by showing an irate judge who keeps overruling and telling off Garrison at every turn.  It pretty much stops short of saying to the audience "Yeah the government is in on it!" as to back up how Garrison (SPOILER SORRY!!!!) went on to lose the trial in the film (and also in reality) in the face of a seemingly corrupt government hellbent on covering its tracks.

Perhaps also at times due to the film's long running time certain scenes can slow the pace down a bit as there is so much information to sift through.  Also given the amount of leads Garrison had to follow up, the film also throws up a number of leads that really lead to nowhere (especially the showgirl one whom Garrison and Lou meet with) until of course Garrison meets up with the mysterious "X" who tells him key information regarding the background of the events that lay behind the assassination.

I also felt that Oliver Stone's script while largely excellent and well written, still does have some cheesy bits of dialogue. As an example there is of course the line where the news reporter, Walter Kronkite, officially annoucnes that President Kennedy has died and at this point, Garrison is in a bar watching it on the TV. So, after the announcement, Garrison is astonished and he says to himself "God, I'm ashamed to be an American today!". Stone also gives Garrison some fondness for quoting lines from Shakespeare and other literary figures thoughout, which can be a little grating as it goes on, although to be fair Costner's delivery of "One may smile and smile and be a villain" is a great moment in his performance when Garrison refers to Shaw.

And last of all another problem with the film comes in the scene when Garrison and Lou go to the book depository where Oswald allegedly shot from.  And in the scene (which features in the director's cut) Garrison refers to Clay Shaw in an incriminatory way but in the next scene one of Garrison's team, Bill, reveals that Clay Shaw's alias is Clay Bertrand and in that scene Garrison reacts with surprise as if he didn't know that Clay Shaw had any alleged involvement in the conspiracy but in the depository scene he does!  So this remains one of the film's rare pieces of poor continuity but when you watch those two scenes it really does stick out.    

Also further to this scene, Lou makes reference to Oswald's rifle, which was a Mannlicher Carcano, to be the world's worst shoulder weapon, which had a defective scope on it. However, in reality these rifles are actually considered to be of good quality and that the stigma surrounding them was actually a myth. Further to this, in reality the FBI did tests with shooters that confirmed it was possible that Oswald's rifle could have fired three shots in succession regardless with this type of rifle. The only real dobut here to Oswald's possible firing of the weapon accurately stems from the defective scope. Regardless the bad impression of the Carcano rifle itself still remains one of the more misleading quotes from the film. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.  

SUM UP 

So that is it for my fifth revisitation of JFK, which remains personally one of my favourite films and one of the best films of the 1990s.  The film is lengthy of course, espcially the director's cut which clocks in at 3 hours and 25 minutes and it would be impossible to take in all the info it throws at you in one go but its a film that warrants repeated viewing.  It also has an excellent central performance from Kevin Costner, and a top cast backing him up as well as a great screenplay and music score by John Williams.  And it remains one of the most compelling and engrossing dramas in modern cinema, which is a must see for any film fan or anyone interested in the whole JFK conspiracy. 

So, with that said, I will rate JFK.

10 out of 10

So, that's it for this one guys and I will be back soon with another post.

Until then keep going back and to the left!  

 

The Witcher Season 4 Review - Is it really THAT BAD???

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well guys, this might be a slightly contentious post regarding the subject, which is of much outrage online right now as the Netflix series, The Witcher has just aired its 4th season, which has seen the change of its lead actor from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth. 

So, as a result of this change, there has been a huge backlash from fans online but there were already plenty of fans that disliked the show's direction and storylines even when Cavill was still in the series and Cavill himself was believed to have left due to creative differences with the producers. However, despite that, the series has gone on into its fourth season and the change of lead actor has indeed been the subject of much outrage as well as the increasing lack of faithfulness to the original material. 

But having watched the whole 4th season, is it really as bad as they say it is??? Well, let's take a look.

Oh and I will give the warning below...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the fourth season begins with Witcher, Geralt of Rivia (now Liam Hemsworth) along with the travelling bard, Jaskier (Joey Batey) and skilled archer, Milva (Meng'er Zhang) making their way toward Nilfgaard with the intention of rescuing Ciri (Freya Allan). On their way, they discover that former Nilfgaardian officer, Cahir is being held captive by a band of Nilfgaadrian soldiers, Geralt threatens to kill him but then leaves a knife for Cahir to cut himself free with. Geralt on his travels soon also meets Regis (Laurence Fishburne) a barber surgeon, who helps on their travels as well but its also apparent, Geralt is still hurting from his wounds at the hand of the powerful and evil mage, Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu). So, throughout the season, Geralt deals with his own doubts and fears in trying to protect Ciri. 

Meanwhile, Yennefer (Anya Charlota) the powerful mage (and lover of Geralt) and part of a former coven of witches at Aretuza, gathers together the remaining members of her coven, which was decimated by the villainous Vilgefortz. So, Yennefer intends to destroy Vilgefortz and his army of corrupted witches in order to eventually rebuild Aretuza. 

And lasty, we have Ciri, who in this season has joined up with a criminal gang known as the Rats, who is lead by Mistle (Juliette Alexandra) and Ciri goes on to have a romantic relationship with. However, Ciri has her struggles within the group and later on we discover that her father, King Emhyr (Bart Edwards) has one of his close confidants, Skellen (James Purefoy) try and track her down for his own ends. However, Skellen himself has his own agenda and uses Leo Bonhart (Sharlto Copley) a brutal and ruthless bounty hunter to hunt her down.

THOUGHTS

So, this series really did get a real grilling from the fans on its release last week as it was crucified for what is percieved as rushed storylines, poor storytelling, deviating majorly from the source material and the absence of Henry Cavill greatly impacted the show itself. So, no matter what the show creators could have done here with the absence of their original leading man, nothing could have satisifed the fans and no replacement for Cavill would have been good enough for them. As for Liam Hemsworth's performance, it has already been heavily criticised for a lack of charisma and humour as Hemworth by far and large plays it very straight, which to an extent I can't disagree with but I have to also admit, I didn't think he was that bad either. 

So, for me personally, I think the Witcher Season 4 is actually not a bad season at all and is even a pretty decent one overall, despite some issues and misgivings with the show, I really don't think it is that bad and it doesn't deserve all the hate that it gets. 

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section might contain the odd spoiler!) 

As for the performances in season 4, I will say a bit about the cast here but won't really quote any scenes of dialogue as such as I usually do since there is more to cover in a series. 

So, for starters, let's begin with Liam Hemsworth himself as Geralt and I have to say, I think he does a fairly good job here and even succeeds in showing a more serious side to Geralt given his grave injuries at the hands of Vilgefortz at the end of Season 3 have left him more vulnerable than before. It is undeniable however that Hemsworth had a tough job in following Cavill in the role, given that Cavill was so good as Geralt and was bsaically tailored made for the role and here he doesn't quite reach the level in the role that Cavill did. 

However, despite that, Hemsworth still does the best with the material he is given here, even if he plays the role way more seriously with the very little in the way of any lines of humour (well for the most part anyway despite the odd line here or there). In fact you could say that is the worst thing about the series, is how they really deviated away from Geralt's character as we saw it in the video games and in the books and they've taken even further here in this season. Regardless, I still think Hemsworth's take on Geralt, did kind of grow on me a bit more as the season progressed.

Next Anya Charlota is excellent once again in here role as Yennefer, the powerful mage, who is Geralt's romantic interest and also step mother to Ciri and here tries to reform the witches coven to destroy the villainous mage, Vilgefortz. Anya's performance is pretty consistent with how it was in the previous series, mostly serious but with a few flashes of humour here and there. Yennefer's storyline for the most part is also pretty compelling and her battle against Vilgefortz for the most part is pretty good and well staged. 

Freya Allan is also excellent once again in her role as Ciri, who in this season joins a criminal gang, the Rats and becomes romantically invovled with one of their group as well but the gang themselves soon or later are the subject of a ruthless bounty hunter. In fact for me, Ciri's storyline was probably the strongest of the three and Ciri's character starts to shine more as we see more of her feistiness and her sense or humour emerge here. There are also even moments in the season where Freya even resembles how Ciri looked in the Witcher 3 video game, which is cool in itself. So, for me, this was easily one of the best aspects of the season and Freya's best performance in the show so far. 

Joey Batey also makes his return as Jaskier, the travelling bard, who sticks with Geralt although his character is somewhat less humorous this time around and is sidelined quite a bit more. However, to be fair, Joey does get his amusing albeit cringing musical sequence, which in a way is fun and does help break up the more serious moments of the season themselves. Although, his longer hairdo in this season, has also been the subject of some criticism but for me I didn't mind it too much. 

As for new cast members, Laurence Fishburne is excellent in his role as Regis, a surgeon of sorts, who has a rather dark past but ends up helping Geralt on his travels. Fishburne also provides a colourful performance here and is one of the stronger things about this season overall. He also provides some moments of humour during the show, which work well.

Sharlto Copley is also excellent as a new character, Leo Benhart, a brutal bounty hunter, who is ruthless in his methods of hunting down his targets. Copley plays the role with a humorous side but he is also quite chilling given Benhart's brutal nature in how he takes down his targets, which culminates in a bloody showdown near the end of the season. 

Juliette Alexandra is very good in her role as Mistle, one of the rats gang, who Ciri joins and she becomes romantically involved with. Alexandra does a good job at showing Mistle's playful and dangerous nature but also balancing all that with her relationship with Ciri, as she also sees how Ciri changes as the season progresses.   

Next is Meng'er Zhang, who does a fine job as Milva, the archer, who helps Geralt and Jaskier on their travels, who they befriended at the end of Season 3. Zhang also does a good job at showing Milva's feisty character, who can often insult those around her but she also shows she is willing to fight for them and we find out as the show goes on she has a secret of her own. 

Bart Edwards also makes his return as Emperor Emhyr, the ruthless leader of the Nilfgaardian empire and in this season searches for his daughter, Ciri, who he wants for his own ends (won't say why!). Edwards is pretty good once again in his role as well as the creepy and slimy emperor, who really ramps up his creepiness in this season for sure.

Mahesh Jadu again returns as the villainous mage, Vilgefortz, who is intent on wiping out the remaining witch coven members and he does a pretty good job once at showing how twisted Vilgefortz can be. In fact there is a scene later on where (SPOILER!) Vilgefortz kills three of his remaining coven and takes a part of their bodies for himself as a memento (yep pretty f'd up!!).   

Anna Shaffer is also pretty good in her role as Triss Merigold, who is one of the witches, who helps out Yennefer in her quest to take down Vilgefortz. However, Shaffer's character is somewhat sidelined here in this season but she does when she can also with the limited material she has. 

WARNING: SPOILER IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS 

Mimi M Kayisha is also very good in her returning role as Frangilla, a witch who was once in the service of the Nilfgaadrian empire but now switches her allegiance to help Yennefer fight against Vilgefortz. Mimi also does a good job at showing the possibility that Frangilla could still flip sides as she has a rather morally ambivalent past.   

And last of all, Eamon Farren does well in his role as Cahir, the now former Nilfgaardian commander, who in this season switches his allegiance and helps out Geralt and the others in their quest to find Ciri. The only real problem I have with Farren however is his character of Cahir is pretty one dimensional and not very interestintg but Farren does what he can with the limited development of his role and it is good to see him join the good side.

MUSIC AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

As for the music, the show's composers once again do a pretty good job with here and keep the theme of the show's Polish roots in check. The score doesn't really hit the heights of the music you find in the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game, which is pretty phenomenal but overall its still a good solid score and fits the tone of the show well. 

Special effects wise, the show makes fairly good use of its CGI although some monsters fair better than others during the season as the CGI for some of them looks pretty obviously fake. In fact you could argue in general, CGI has gotten worse in recent years rather than better! Regardless the effects are not too bad and serve the show well enough.

FLAWS

As for flaws...is Season 4 perfect? Hell no! ;-) Yes there are some issues with the season itself.

For starters, I think to start with the elephant in the room and that is Liam Hemsworth himself, who had a mighty tough task in replacing Henry Cavill in the show and to be fair he does a fairly good job at it for the most part. However, it has to be said there are times where his performance really does feel lacklustre and his hushed and serious delivery of Geralt's lines at nearly all times does kind of make the character's depiction feel now all the more drab and uninteresting, which Geralt never should be. I also feel like this is also to do with of course the writers and the path they chose to taken with Geralt to make him more sullen and serious here as he faces questions about his own mortality and his own ability after being gravely injured at the end of Season 3. So, for the most part, Hemsworth's Geralt feels like a stripped down version of the character almost to the point, it feels like he's not EVEN there and the show just happens around him! 

However, despite this there are still some nice moments from Hemsworth himself throughout the series, particularly the scene where we have a flashback to where Geralt fixes Ciri's hair for her and she makes a joke and he says "Ah, humour! I remember that!". Then of course there is that moment, which everyone hated in the trailer where he shouts "Let's fu***** MOVE!!!" but when you take in the context of the actual scene, its actually a pretty funny line. The context of the scene is in fact where Geralt helps out Queen Meve's soldiers and Jaskier gives a pep talk to the soldiers and he asks "Do you have anything to add to that, Geralt?" and Geralt takes out his sword and delivers the infamous line. Despite these though, there are however still times where you feel the show is definitely that bit hollower without Cavill but to be fair, Hemsworth's Geralt did grow on me a bit more as he went on and hopefully he will finish stronger in Season 5. 

Another issue I had was to do with some choices of how characters were suddenly written out such as Djikstra, the ruthless advisor to the fomer King, who now advises the weak King Radvoid, as he appears for a couple of episodes and he is quickly taken out of things. The same even also goes for Radovid himself, who makes a rather bizarre transition from a weasily King to a more decisive one after meeting with Jaskier briefly in one scene (after their romantic tryst in season 3). However, in the next episode, Radovid again vanishes! So, yeah, I feel like they rushed the storylines here quite a bit here myself and the disappearance of certain characters feel a bit jarring. 

WARNING: TWO BIG SPOILERS AHEAD!!! 

I also felt that the season's conclusion was also a bit unsatisfactory and left things hanging the final season but it would have been good if we had some closure on certain things. For example, Ciri's fight with Leo Benhart is cut short and at the end she is captured by him whilst she witnesses her former rat members being gruesomely beheaded by Benhart himself. I was just hoping that Ciri would have brutally finished this guy off instead but sadly they decided not to go with that and save it for the final season. I guess I just hated this guy enough, I wanted to see Ciri use her skills or magic to blast his head off instead (bloodlust got me there! Sorry!").

Also further to this, we have Yennefer's story arc conclude with her going after Vilgefortz but again its left hanging as to how she will reach him as she just teleports into the ocean and swims towards some sort of whirpool. Its just a bit of a daft way to end her story in the show at this point rather than have her, you know land on actual land!

And last of all, I thought that Geralt's 180 on his opinion of Cahir was handled a bit stupidly as he eventually accepts, he is there to help him despite Geralt's repeated attempts at killing him. However, in the end, Geralt thanks his party for helping save him and that included Cahir but Cahir didn't really do anything for him in the season up to this point to really help him! Its more a case of Cahir saying "I'm not your enemy!" over and over until it eventually sinks in but I still don't recall Cahir helping him properly until the final episode itself. 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, is The Witcher Season 4 really that bad and as big a disaster as the online community make it out to be?? Well, in my opinion, absolutely not. Its actually a very entertaining season for the most part with some good action, good story arcs (more for Ciri and Yennefer than Geralt) and it hangs together better than Season 3 did, which fell apart towards the end. However, the change of casting from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth is definitely felt here but to be fair Hemsworth does what he can with the role and he did grow on me a bit more as the season progressed. 

However, I think it also has to be said (and this bit might get me into trouble if Witcher fans read it!) that this season really has become the victim of the hate bandwagon, which so many fans of pop culture these days are too keen to get on. So, I really think that this season is getting way too much hate and really doesn't deserve it as its deemed as being objectively awful by legions of fans and if you go on Youtube you see nothing but "WITCHER SEASON 4 AWFUL" and "WITCHER SEASON 4 SUCKS" etc etc. But I think this is definitely systemic of a problem with fan culture in general these days where its too easy to hate on something and find reasons to hate something rather than to like it or give it a chance.

So, for me, Witcher Season 4 is not objectively awful, not badly acted, not poorly paced (for the most part anyway!) and not un-entertaining. It can be enjoyed and I think if you just want to watch something for a bit of escapism, you could certainly do worse than this. So, I really do think in the end, you need to take all this hate directed at the series with a pinch of salt and decide for yourself what you think of it. Is it perfect? Nope, the season has its problems but I still think people should give it a try and try not to buy into the overwhelming negativity and online toxicity that has been attached to it.

So, I will rate The Witcher Season 4

7 out of 10

So, that's it for this one guys and I will see you soon for another post.

Until then, bye for now!     

Whiplash Review (revisited) "Not my fu***** TEMPO!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I thought would try and get a quick post in just before the end of the month on this blog, so this will be a revisit of a previous post on the psychological drama film, Whiplash. So, I will add a bit more to the original review in a few sections to expand on it.

So, with that said, let's take another look at Whiplash six years on from my initial review and 11 on from its release.

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!  

STORY

So, the story follows a young ambitious jazz drum student, Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller) who is studying at the prestigious (and fictional) Shaffer Conservatory in New York City. One night at the school while Andrew rehearses, he catches the attention of Terence Fletcher (J.K Simmons) who is a renowned instructor at the conservatory and he asks Andrew if he will play as an alternate drummer in his studio band.

Andrew however soon finds out that Fletcher's methods of teaching are pretty ruthless as he brutally berates his students frequently by throwing insults at them whenever they make a mistake and he even dismisses one of them for allegedly being out of tune. Andrew soon also comes under fire from Fletcher as he begins to play as an alternate for the track "Whiplash" by Hank Levy and Fletcher continually pulls him up for poor timing on the track, which boils up to the point of Fletcher throwing a chair at Andrew, yelling at him and even slapping him for not keeping up the tempo.

Andrew meanwhile also begins dating a girl, Nicole (Melissa Benoist) who works as a movie theatre concessionaire. However, its not long before Andrew's obsession with his drumming takes over and decides to make a pre-emptive strike to end their relationship as he tells Nicole that she would be ultimately hold him back from progressing with his career as a drummer.

Sometime later, Fletcher's class attend a jazz competition, where Andrew is still an alternate for the core drummer of the band, Carl (Nate Lang). During a break, Andrew loses Carl's music sheets, which he cannot play without, so Andrew volunteers to play instead as he tells Fletcher he has studied the notes of "Whiplash" thoroughly and can play the track to which Fletcher agrees to. Andrew then goes on to successfully play the track for the band and he is soon promoted to core drummer.

However its not all plain sailing for Andrew as Fletcher recruits another drummer into the band, Connolly (Austin Towell) who is the core drummer in Andrew's former band group, which angers Andrew as he believes Connolly is not as good a drummer as he is. This soon leads to an intense night session where Andrew, Connolly and Carl all audition for the core drummer part with Andrew finally earning the part as his hands literally bleed from playing.

Enroute to another jazz competition, Andrew is forced to get a rental car to get there after the bus he was riding had broken down but he forgets to lift his drumsticks from the rental place. Andrew then shows up at the competition and argues with Fletcher about having no sticks and that he could give up the part he earned at a moment's notice. Andrew then races back to get his sticks from the rental office but he ends up his crashing his rental car in an accident. However, sustaining a head injury, Andrew determinedly heads back to the competition much to everyone's shock, he starts to play the track "Caravan" but its soon clear he cannot continue due to his injury. Fletcher then tells Andrew he is finished with the band, which enrages Andrew and he attacks Fletcher and is dragged off him by the other band members. Soon after, Andrew is sent a formal letter confirming his dismissal from the conservatory.

Not long after, Andrew's father, Jim Neiman (Paul Reiser) asks Andrew to meet with a lawyer, who is representing the parents of a former conservatory student named Sean Casey, whom Fletcher had tutored. Fletcher previously had told the class about Casey and that he died in a car accident but the lawyer tells Andrew that Casey, who had been struggling with depression, committed suicide, which was most likely as a result of Fletcher's abusive teaching methods. The lawyer requests that Andrew testify against Fletcher to prevent him from carrying on but assures Andrew that he will be kept anonymous to which Andrew agrees to testify and as a result, Fletcher is fired from the conservatory. 

Months later, Andrew has given up on drumming and works at a restaurant but one night walking by a bar he notices a billboard with Fletcher's name on it and on entering the bar, Andrew finds Fletcher performing piano. After the show, Fletcher inivites Andrew to have a drink and afterward, Fletcher tells Andrew that he has a band playing an upcoming show at the JVC jazz festival and asks is Andrew would be interested in playing but tells him to think it over.

So, its from here that Andrew must decide if he will make his return as a drummer and take up Fletcher on his offer...

THOUGHTS

As a film, Whiplash is a highly entertaining and gripping experience, which is pretty intense right from the get go and its highlights are undoubtedly between the two leads of the film where we see J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller go at it and lock heads in an intense battle of the minds. The film however has of course been criticised by professional musicians, who have called it out as being totally unrealistic in its depiction of tuition towards students. And it would be fair to say that this indeed feels more like Full Metal Jacket goes to jazz school with the character of Fletcher being a ruthless, foul mouthed tyrant who berates his students at any given moment just like Lee Ermy did as Sgt Hartman did in FMJ.

Nonetheless I still think the film has to take certain license with the realities of music tuition in order for it to become an engrossing drama and on that scale it certainly succeeds as it would make for a rather dull experience if it didn't. And in that way this certainly has the feel more of an endurance film more than anything else where its about the survival of the fittest rather than the joy of creating music.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)

As for the performances, this is where Whiplash certainly works as the cast are all excellent in their respective roles and particularly the two leads.

Starting with Miles Teller who is great in his role as Andrew Neiman, the ambitious young jazz drum student who undergoes the cruel tutelage of Fletcher but in spite of it, he remains resolute in his ambition to make it as a professional drummer.

And Teller has his share of good scenes such as the one where Andrew decides to break up with his girlfriend, Nicole in a preemptive strike to better his chances of pursuing his career.

So, Andrew tells her "I'm just gonna lay it out there. This is why I don't think we should be together. And I've thought about it a lot and this is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna keep pursuing what I'm pursuing. And because I'm doing that, it's gonna take up more and more of my time. And I'm not gonna be able to spend as much time with you. And when I do spend time with you, I'm gonna be thinking about drumming. And I'm gonna be thinking about jazz music, my charts, all that. And because of that, you're gonna start to resent me. And you're gonna tell me to ease up on the drumming, spend more time with you because you're not feeling important. And I'm not gonna be able to do that. And really, I'm gonna start to resent you for even asking me to stop drumming. And we're just gonna start to hate each other. And it's gonna get very... It's gonna be ugly. And so for those reasons, I'd rather just, you know, break it off clean... because I wanna be great". And Nicole just sits there stunned and asks Andrew "And you're not?" and Andrew tells her "I want to be one of the greats" and Nicole asks "And I would stop you from doing that?" and Andrew bluntly tells her "Yes".   

Then there is the scene where Andrew confronts Fletcher when he threatens to replace him as the core drummer in a jazz competition and Andrew has forgotten to lift his sticks after renting a car to get to the competition.

So, in the scene, Andrew turns up a bit late and Fletcher teases him for it and says "Well, glad you could fit us into your busy schedule, darling" and Andrew says "I know. Look, I'm sorry but I'm here and I'm ready to go". However Fletcher tells Andrew "Connelly's playing the part" and Andrew insolently says "Like fuckin hell he's gonna play my part!" which leaves Fletcher taken aback and he angrily asks him "What the fuck did you just say to me?" and Andrew says "Its my part". Fletcher then fires back at Andrew "Its MY part and I decide who to lend it to. Usually its someone with fucking sticks!".  Fletcher however refuses to relent and tells Andrew "Neiman, you lost the part" but Andrew shouts at him "No, I didn't! You can't fucking do this to me!" which prompts further rage from Fletcher who yells back "CAN'T??!! When did you become an expert on what I can or can't do, you fucking weepy willow shit sack?!".

Andrew then angrily says to Fletcher "I earned that part" but Fletcher goes on to berate him more and Andrew spits back "I'm the best player in this studio band!" which annoys Connelly who says "Hey, bro, why don't just back off?" which prompts Andrew to yell "FUCK OFF, JOHNNY UTAH! TURN MY PAGES, BITCH!". Fletcher then glares at Andrew and says to him "I can cut you anytime I want" but Andrew remains defiant and says "You would have cut me already!" which angers Fletcher more who shouts "TRY ME, YOU FUCKING WEASEL!". Fletcher then warns Andrew that he has one chance to get back in 10 minutes with his sticks of Connelly will take over his part, so Andrew firmly tells Fletcher "Its MY part, I'll be on YOUR stage!" and he rushes off.

Then there is the following scene where Andrew get's into a car crash as he rushes to get back to the competition in his rental car but collides with another vehicle and he races back on foot and turns up with his head bleeding. So, Andrew starts to play the track "Caravan" but its clear he cannot continue and he is stopped by Fletcher, who coldly tells him "Neiman...you're done". So, this prompts Andrew jump off the kit and attack Fletcher and throw him to the ground as he yells at him "Piece of shit! I'll fucking kill you!!!". The other band members then rush in and restrain Andrew and pull him off Fletcher and drag him off as Andrew furiously shouts "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU, FLETCHER! FUCK YOU!!".

And then we have J.K. Simmons who provides what is unquestionably his best performance as the ruthless band instructor, Terence Fletcher, who's brutal teaching methods push his students and particularly, Andrew to the very limit.

And Simmons has too many scenes to quote from here as he gets all the film's best dialogue and moments, so I will try and narrow it down to just a few scenes.

So, to kick off there is the scene near the start where Fletcher chastises one of the unfortunate band members for apparently being out of tune. So, he singles out one of the players, Metz and he says to him calmly "Do you thin you're out of tune?". However, Metz is so scared he can't look up at Fletcher, who looks at him and says "What are you... there's no fucking Mars Bar down there, what are you looking at? Look up here, look at me. Do you think you were out of tune?". Metz finally summons the courage to respond with a frightened "Yes" and a nod, which causes Fletcher to unexpectedly explode at Metz "THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU SAY SO???!!!" which causes Metz to break down in tears.

Fletcher then tells Metz "Carried your fat ass for too long, Metz. I'm not gonna have you cost us a competition because your mind's on a fucking happy meal instead of on pitch! What are you still doing sitting there?! Get the fuck out!". So, Metz while sobbing gets up and leaves and Fletcher tells the other band members "For the record, Metz wasn't out of tune" and he looks to one of the other members "You were, Erickson, but he didn't know and that's bad enough".

Then there is the famous "rushing or dragging" scene (well if you are familiar with the film that is) where Fletcher begins to tear into Andrew for not being on time during a rehearsal of Whiplash.

So, after Andrew plays the start of "Whiplash" and has to constantly stop and start at Fletcher's say so, Fletcher finally snaps and throws a chair at Andrew's head, which narrowly misses him. So, Fletcher trying to restrain himself asks Andrew "Why do you think I just threw a chair at your head?" and Andrew nervously says "I don't know" and Fletcher tells him "Sure you do!" and Andrew asks "The tempo?" and Fletcher asks him "Where you rushing or were you dragging?" and Andrew nervously replies "I don't know". So, Fletcher then storms up to Andrew and tells him to start counting music time for him and he slaps him on the face as he does it and he grows more angry as they continue.

So, it gets to the point where Andrew begins to cry from Fletcher's abusive comments and Fletcher says quietly "Oh, dear God!You're upset, aren't you?" and Andrew nods and Fletcher says "Say it, so the whole band can hear you?". So, Andrew tearfully says "I'm upset" and Fletcher shouts at him "Louder!!" and Fletcher shouts even louder "LOUDER!!" and Andrew says it louder "I'm upset!!" and Fletcher yells even more "LOUDER!!!!" and Andrew finally yells "I'M UPSET!!". So, Fletcher then cruelly berates Andrew again and shouts "You are a worthless, friendless, faggot-lipped little piece of shit whose mommy left daddy when she figured out he wasn't Eugene O'Neill, and who is now weeping and slobbering all over my drum set like a fucking nine-year old girl! So for the final, FATHER-FUCKING time, SAY IT LOUDER!" and Andrew shouts "I'M UPSET!!!!". So, Fletcher finally relents and walks back to compose the band and tells Andrew "Start practicing harder, Neiman!".

Then there is the great scene where Fletcher pushes the band's three drummers to the absolute limit as he auditions them in turn to play a part and none of them can play it up to scratch, so he keeps berating them until one of them does.

So, in the scene Fletcher has a go at each drummer, Andrew, Connelly and Tanner and as Andrew tries to play the part, Fletcher yells at him "NOT MY FUCKING TEMPO!!". Fletcher then turns to the other band members and says to them "Sorry, guys. Hate to put you through this. If you need to fucking take a dump or get a coffee,whatever, now might be a good time. We're gonna stay until I find a drummer who can fucking play in time I apologize to the musicians. Seriously, take 10, 20, a fucking hour" and he says to the drummers "You hear me, cocksuckers?! You better start shitting me perfect 400s!".

And so the drummers continue to get grilled by Fletcher while the other musicians take a break, Andrew continues to try and nail the part but can't play fast enough. So, Fletcher holds up his hand and looks disgusted with him and asks Andrew "Is that really the fastest you can play, you worthless Hymie fuck?! No one wondered mommy ran out on you! Get off the fucking kit!". So, Andrew gets off and Tanner takes his turn to get verbally bashed as Fletcher shouts at him "And here comes mister gay pride of the Upper West Side himself. Unfortunately, this is not a Bette Midler concert, we will not be serving Cosmopolitans and Baked Alaska, so just play faster than you give fucking hand jobs, will you please?!". So, Tanner starts playing but can't play the tempo fast enough, so Fletcher stops him and says "Not even fucking close!". So, Connelly takes his turn and Fletcher mocks his Irish heritage and for adjusting the seat height only for Connelly once again failing to keep the tempo that Fletcher wants, so Fletcher yells at him "BULLSHIT!! FUCK YOU!! Get off!!".

So, Andrew sits at the kit once again and Fletcher wearily says to him "Neiman! Maybe its time to finally bring this home, what do you say? Show me!". So, Andrew starts playing a faster pace than the others that finally holds Fletcher's approval and he intensely looks at Andrew and tells him "Don't slow down! Pick it up!" and Andrew keeps on playing and Fletcher yells at him "FASTER!! FASTER!!". Fletcher then grabs a cowbell and a drumstick and strikes it close to Andrew's head to motivate him and he then throws the cowbell away and grabs the floor tom of the kit and throws it across the room as Andrew furiously tries to keep the pace going. So, Fletcher keeps yelling at Andrew "FASTER!!! KEEP PLAYING!!! KEEP PLAYING!! DON'T STOP!" and Andrew frantically keeps the fast pace going with all he has left in him and at that point Fletcher signals for Andrew to stop playing, who stops and gasps with relief as we see his hands are bleeding from playing so hard. Fletcher then finally calms down and looks at Andrew and tells him "Neiman, you earned the part" and he looks to Connelly and Tanner and says to them "Alternates, do you want to clean the blood off my drum set?" as Andrew sinks over the kit in sheer exhaustion.

Then there is the scene where Fletcher confronts Andrew over his turning up late at a jazz competition without his sticks and threatens to have Connelly play his drum part instead. So, as the two of them argue, Fletcher warns Andrew "At 5:30, that's in exactly 11 minutes, my band is on stage. If your ass is not on that stool with your own fucking sticks in hand or you make ONE FUCKING MISTAKE, ONE! I will drum your ass back to Nassau where you can turn pages until you graduate or fucking drop out! By the time you're done at Shaffer, you're gonna make Daddy look like a fucking success story. Got it? Or, we can let Johnny Utah play the part. You choose!".

And last of all is the scene where Fletcher meets with Andrew after Andrew attends a gig that Fletcher played in a bar in New York, months after both of them left the conservatory. So, as the two of them share a drink, Fletcher tells Andrew his philosophy on teaching his former students as well as the story of how the legendary jazz drummer, Charlie Parker, made a name for himself.

So, Fletcher tells Andrew "And a year later he (Charlie Parker) goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage and he plays the best motherfucking solo the world has ever heard. So imagine if Jones just said "Well, that's okay Charlie. That was alright. Good job." Then Charlie thinks to himself "Well, shit. I did do a pretty good job." End of story. No Bird. That, to me, is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. People wonder why jazz is dying. I'll tell you, man - and every Starbucks "jazz" album just proves my point, really - there are no two words in the English language more harmful than "good job"".  And Fletcher then admits to Andrew "The truth is, Andrew, I never really had a Charlie Parker. But I tried. I actually fucking tried, and that's more than most people ever do. And I will never apologize for how I tried".

As for the supporting cast, I won't bother quoting any dialogue as the other parts aren't quite so prominent in comparison to the two main leads but I will give them a mention of course as they are also excellent here.

For starters, Paul Reiser does a fine job here as Andrew's father, Jim Neiman, who is a school teacher, who is also an aspiring writer and he looks out for his son as well as keeps going to the movies with him as a tradition. Later on, Jim also persuades Andrew to testify against Fletcher after the news of a former student of his had taken his own life most likely as a result of Fletcher's abusive methods.

I will mention just one of Reiser's scenes, which is the one where Andrew and Jim meet with a lawyer, Rachael Bornholdt (April Grace) who tells them about Fletcher's former student who killed himself most likely as a result of Fletcher's cruel abuse. So, in the scene as the lawyer lays it all out for Andrew and asks that he testify, Andrew looks torn and asks Jim "Why are you doing this?" and Jim says "You think I was going to let him put my son through hell and walk off scot-free? Don’t you know I would never let that happen, Andrew? That there’s nothing in the world more important to me than you? Don’t you know that?". 

Melissa Benoist is also pretty good in her role as Nicole, Andrew's brief love interest in the film as the two of them start dating but it very quickly doesn't go anywhere as a result of Andrew's obsession with his career to become one of the great jazz drummers. And Melissa delivers a nicely understated performance here and its just a pity that her role is underwritten here. 

So, I will mention one of her breakup scene with Andrew, where Andrew bluntly lays it down that she is holding him back from his dream to become a great jazz drummer. So, in the scene after Andrew tells her "I wanna be one of the greats" Nicole asks him "And I would stop you from doing that?" and Andrew says "Yeah" and Nicole asks "You know I would stop you from doing that. You know for a fact?" and Andrew firmly says "Yes". So, Nicole naturally hurt and offended by this asks "And when I do see you, you'd treat me like shit because I'm just some girl who doesn't know what she wants. And you have a path, and you're gonna be great, and I'm going to be forgotten, and therefore you won't be able to give me the time of day because you have bigger things to pursue?!". So, Andrew again bluntly tells her "That's exactly my point" and after a moment, Nicole finally manages to ask "What the fuck is wrong with you??! You're right, we shouldn't be dating" and she gets up and leaves. 

Austin Stowell also does well in his role as Ryan Connolly, a fellow drum student of Andrew's who ends up playing for Fletcher as well and as a result it develops a bitter rivalry between the two as Andrew resents Fletcher for bringing him into the band. Stowell however given his physique here actually looks more like a high school jock here than an actual drum student it has to be said!

So, again I will mention one scene of his, which is the one where Connolly plays for Fletcher and Fletcher is seemingly impressed but Andrew is far from it. So, in the scene Connolly plays a part for Fletcher, who stops and says "That was excellent, Connolly. You see, that's the beauty of a studio band, you come in as an alternate, later on you can become a core" much to Andrew's disbelief "You serious??". So, Fletcher goes off to his office to take a call and Connolly tries to reassure Andrew "Don't worry about Fletcher, he's more bark than bite". 

And last of all is Nate Lang who also is pretty good in his role as Carl Tanner, one of Andrew's rival drummers in the studio band and a growing resentment forms in Tanner as he sees Andrew become better than him and he eventually takes over as the core drummer for the band. 

So, I will mention one of Nate's scenes, which is his main one essentially where Tanner trusts Andrew with his sheet music but it soon goes missing after Andrew leaves it on a bench to get a Pepsi can. So, in the scene Tanner to his horror sees that the folder is missing and shouts at Andrew "You dumb fuck! You dumb fuck!! FIND THE FOLDER!! FIND THE FOLDER!!". Fletcher then appears and tells Tanner to get on stage but Tanner says that Andrew lost his folder only for Fletcher to blame him instead "Its your folder, Tanner, your responsibility! Why would you give it to Neiman?? If you give a retard a calculator, he'll try and turn a TV on with it! Get your ass on stage!". However, Tanner confesses "I can't, I haven't memorised the sheets. I have a problem with my memory, I need visual aids. We've been over this!" so as a result, Andrew steps up and offers to play the part, which he does perfectly later.  

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Damien Chazelle does a fine job here and he was also the writer for the screenplay, so he earns double the credit as his script is filled with some great dialogue and he also paces out the film very well as its pretty tight run time wise at just over 1 hour and 45 minutes. Chazelle also expertly builds up the tension between Fletcher and Andrew as the two of them lock heads throughout. Chazelle himself actually based the film on his experiences playing drums in his high school band where he also had to deal with an abusive band leader.  So, of course even though Chazelle must have endured a lot of crap at the hands of his instructor, its certainly paid off well for him since then.

As for the music score it was composed by Justin Hurwitz which is very good although the score itself is split up between the original compositions for the film and the classical jazz tracks that the studio band play in the film. The jazz tracks featured are of course "Whiplash" by Eugene Levy, "Caravan" by Duke Ellington and "Intoit" by Stan Getz.

FLAWS (Warning: this section contain spoilers!)

So, flaws...does Whiplash have any??? Well, despite my enjoyment of it, I still have to say it does have some worth a mention. 

For starters what I would say about the film that didn't work quite so well is that it really forgets to deal with any sense of joy involved in musical creativity as you never once see anyone smiling while they rehearse or plays songs, its just played out more like an intense sports movie where everyone is trying outdo each other! So, in this respect the film really doesn't carry over any passion from the characters and what they get out of the music, its more they are just driven to succeed rather than enjoy what they are doing. This was well pointed out by Youtuber and jazz bassist, Adam Neely. 

Another issue I had was simply to do with the whole idea of someone like Fletcher being able to even teach in a music school in the first place! I mean the guy is not only yelling at students but slapping them and throwing chairs at them (in the case of Andrew) and anyone who did in that in reality would have been fired on the spot surely for gross misconduct! Not only that but surely there would have been other tutors nearby hearing Fletcher yelling and hurling insults at his students yet NOTHING is done about him from the stand point of the tutors that are there, which suggests to me that Fletcher is very high up in the school or they are all terrified of him!

I also found the scenes where we see Andrew practice until his hands literally bleed also pretty silly and far fetched as having watched a few Youtube videos after by professional drummers and musicians, none of them have EVER said they encountered a drummer that played the drums so hard they bled! So, for the film to include these over the top moments where Andrew is bleeding over Fletcher's drum kit and indeed his own are just ridiculous! I also found it a bit incredible to think that Andrew could somehow even punch a big hole through his snare drum head! I mean the skin of snare drums are pretty thick, so the notion that a guy like Andrew could punch through it is pretty stupid quite frankly!

Update: however to be fair, another jazz drummer on Youtube, Greyson Nekrutman, did confirm on watching the film, he could relate to Andrew's fingers bleeding, as he himself picked up a few torn and cut fingers from intensive playing over the years. Greyson however did admit that Andrew's intense fast playing in the film was quite ridiculous and ultimately didn't quite know why he felt the need to go for it that much.   

I also felt that the film pretty much marginalizes the  other characters in it as it really is also all about Andrew and Fletcher, so everyone else pretty much takes a back seat here. It also further emphasizes that this film could have played out almost better as a two-hander with very few other cast members involved with the exception of the band members of course as so much attention put on these two and not much on everyone else. So, the other characters such as Andrew's dad and girlfriend are just merely bystanders here and it has to be said Andrew's family life and dating scenes do slow down the pace a bit in between the intense jazz band drama. 

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IS A SPOILER!

And last of all, there is that frankly ridiculous scene where Andrew is involved in a car accident and despite sustaining injuries to his head and hands, he decides to make his way back to play in a jazz competition! Now to me this is just plain stupid! I mean this guy has just been in a bad car accident, yet despite a bleeding head and maybe also a concussion, he decides "Yep! I can still play!" and heads back to play only to mess it up due to his injuries. Its just yet another moment of Hollywood making us suspend disbelief but even for me this really was a real moment of unbelievable BS which could not have been harder to believe! 

Further to this, I also found it ridiculous that Fletcher actually LET Andrew play the event despite his obvious physical condition after the car crash. There is no way that Fletcher should have let Andrew play the part in the first place when he saw how injured he was but instead he let's him play anyway and makes the band and himself look bad! However, at the same time, Fletcher is a pretty sadistic guy, so maybe he wanted Andrew to play, so he could fall on his own sword and that would ultimately get him kicked out of the band.  

And just one additional last thing is to do with the ending of the film where Fletcher humiliates Andrew on stage by the band playing a tune, he hasn't the music for or knows, forcing him to walk off stage but later stepping back on and behind the kit to show Fletcher what he can truly do. Now, my problem here is that Fletcher simply does NOT have a back up drummer, so if Andrew never came back, how the hell can the band proceed if they have NO BACK UP DRUMMER?!!! So, yeah this was totally ridiculous to me that Fletcher did this as it still makes him and the band look bad, if they played on without a drummer, unless he planned for the band to play the following tracks without a drummer. However regardless, this still stands out as a problem with the ending for me and a big oversight on the director's behalf.   

Oh and just one more thing (sorry to do a Columbo!) the ending of the film is also very troubling one reading the end of it, as we see Andrew's father look on in shock at his incredible drum solo. However, the real shock from what I've read online is that Andrew has lost his son to Fletcher at this point, as its like his approval is far more important to him than his father's. So, yeah if you look at the ending that way, its highly misleading and an incredibly bittersweet ending, even if Andrew achieves his original goal, it remains to be seen how it will impact his family.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up on repeated viewing, Whiplash is still a very entertaining, engrossing and intense film that basically resembles the idea of Full Metal Jacket in a jazz school! The performances from the cast are all excellent and in particular J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller are both great in their respective roles and Simmons himself certainly deserved to take home the Academy Award he won for this film for his role of the ruthless, foul mouthed band instructor, Terence Fletcher.  And yeah the film is a bit far fetched at times and forgets to show the idea of musicians actually enjoying the music they play and instead uses the idea of turning the whole tuition process into the survival of the fittest, which actually makes it more like a sports film than a musical one.

However that all aside, this really is a great film despite these shortcomings and well worth checking out if you haven't seen it already.

So, I will rate Whiplash

9.5 out of 10 

So, that's all for now and I will be back soon with another post next month.

Until then bye for now!