All Quiet On the Western Front (Daniel Bruehl - 2021)

Edward Berger to Direct ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’ With Daniel Bruehl in Cast

 

Out tomorrow, looks great. Very good reviews so far.

 

Just finished watching this; brutal, and bleak as fuck. But a very well made film, showing you the true horrors of war, with nothing extra. Constructing these sets must have been a giant undertaking.

 

Looking forward to this.

Love German "anti-war" war movies. Das Boot and Stalingrad are favorites of mine.

 

Thought this was kind of one of the worst movies of the year. Lackluster script and little to no effort put into fleshing out thinly drawn characters, it’s a total blur, monotonous with a score that feels anachronistic, almost Nolanesque. It looks expensive with vista shots, huge set pieces and it really wants to remind you that it has seen Come and See, but it’s nowhere close to that film. The film completely lost me with the tank kill in the trench. It wants to claim anti-war but feels anything but.

 

I feel like you completely missed the point of the film; like, this isn’t the kind of film you need fleshed out characters for. The main “character” is really war itself; we’re here to watch the brutality of war, to see the utter destruction of man it causes. War is absolute hell, WW1 more than any other war really, and this film undeniably got that point across. The film 100% delivered on what it set out to do. My favorite war film of all time is still “The Thin Red Line”, but this film is up there with the best

 

I think the point about the tone and it being monotonous is a fair one tbh. Especially when you have Come and See to compare this too, which did everything this tries to do way better. I still like this movie, but those are fair points imo

 

I didn’t miss the point at all. It’s a hollow war film, one that’s been done better a hundred times. It literally serves more as a vehicle to show the audience how realistic they can make war look on screen rather than actually imbue the text with any meaning. It’s a shell.

The Thin Red Line is an incredible movie, one with a lot on its mind, nature as audience to man’s destruction of itself. There are so many characters in that film, some for less than 3 minutes and each and everyone of them is vivid and painted with empathy. I can not say anything remotely close about what I watched last night.

Again, to each their own I’m not surprised many people seem to enjoy the film. I’m bummed I think it’s pretty bad.

 

The Thin Red Line reminds me a lot of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining in that it is a very well-made film but a terrible adaptation of the book it is based on. I don't really think the idea of the titular line comes across at all in Terrence Malick's film, even though it is a gorgeous, stunningly shot and crafted and acted anti-war film. Honestly, the central idea of James Jones' novel comes through better in this new version of All Quiet On The Western Front than it does in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line now that I think about it.

 

I really liked the movie, though I can’t argue against the lack of characterization. There’s a lot of important non-war portions of the book that are totally removed, so instead of getting to know these characters you kind of just get a spectacle of misery.

As a straight up war movie I thought it was great, as an adaptation of a beloved novel…I think it’s a bit of a miss.

(I personally loved the score)

 

They should have cut the diplomats negotiation stuff (which I don’t think is in the book?) and kept Paul going on leave. I think a break for civilian life (and how he’s treated at home) would’ve made the war stuff more effective.

 

This was so fucking depressing

 

My biggest complaint as well. I did like the "fate" changes for all of the characters.

 

i think Paul’s fate in the book is way more haunting

 

Totally agreed with this. Seems like they traded Paul's brief time at home in the book, which was really essential to his character development, for the negotiations just so they could place Paul's death at the very last minute of the war instead of a month earlier. It put far too fine a point on the message of the story.

Aside from my issues with this as an adaptation, I thought it was really well done, especially the tank sequence.

 

This is definitely one of the most visually striking war movies I’ve ever seen, a true cinematography tour de force

 

Of what I’ve seen, this is my least favorite movie nominated for best picture this year. Really didn’t like this. (Still need to see Women Talking and Triangle of Sadness)

 

It's probably the most bland one. Everything is from an older, better war film.

 

I'm not sure this adds much to the canon of war films, but it's not without merit. The juxtaposition of extreme violence with peace talks is impactful. Pretty much all of the diplomats and generals had nothing at stake but ego and were indifferent toward their pawn soldiers. Even if some of that felt too on the nose at times. The laundry/clothing recycling sequence is strong too. Although that also couldn't help but beat us over the head with the message by showing us Henrich's name tag multiple times.

 

at some point I realized I don't think I read this in HS and had it confused with The Things They Carried

 

I also can’t recall if I read this in high school. I think I was assigned it but didn’t read it because I was a dumbass.

 

I read it in high school. I remember hating all the non-war parts and found them super boring, but watching the movie really drive home how important they were.

 

just won for cinematography

 

now for best international feature