Twelve years a slave worth watching?

jsmoke

jsmoke

jsmoke

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I think I will find a bit dull to be honest, I have seen plenty historical dramas, does this stand out as being any different?
 
It depicts te brutality of slavery and the injustice of the time. It's not really a story that broke new grounds or has any twists as such. At times I found it dull due to the direction.

It's watchable but I wouldn't want to see it again.
 
Raymond Lin has it spot on.

its a minute of brutality then a min. of thumb twiddling, mind wandering rubbish filler.

watch it, forget it.
 
You guys have no soul. It's a very good film with some really decent performances and some lovely moments of incidental cinematography amongst the barbarism. My only real criticism would be that the passage of time isn't strongly enough marked and that Cumberbutch's and Pitt's characters aren't fleshed out enough. Cumberbutch looks a bit out of place. Well worth watching.
 
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MookJong said:
I was surprised how it moved along at quite a pace, it's not boring by any means. I really enjoyed it.
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exactly what I would have said, although i have seen it twice and got fairly bored the second time. Not really much in terms of replay value. Opens your eyes though.
 
King4aDay said:
You guys have no soul. It's a very good film with some really decent performances and some lovely moments of incidental cinematography amongst the barbarism. My only real criticism would be that the passage of time isn't strongly enough marked and that Cumberbutch's and Pitt's characters aren't fleshed out enough. Cumberbutch looks a bit out of place. Well worth watching.
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I would actually say that movie lacks soul.

Almost famous has soul, Forrest Gump has soul, The Accused has soul. Twelve Years a Slave, after the initial shock and horror at he beginning where he was woken up and beaten, the movie felt very flat. Every 15 min or so he or another character will get more physical abuse but that alone doesn't make a great movie, it makes a decent documentary. Perhaps the lack of justice is what is the downer in this movie, I wanted all those people who treated him badly to get the justice they deserved but that never happened.

Also, I really struggled with some of the very repetitive scene where the camera just sits there, 20 seconds go by, nothing happens, it's either his face or the swamp or some tree. I understand why that was used but it happened too many times.

I actually thought Django Unchained portrait slavery just as well (in a bad light) yet a better movie. I guess 12 years when you finished watching it, you haven't come out with anything you've not seen before, it doesn't show anything you didn't expect to happen. It is exactly what you think happens, happened. But I can't say predictable is a bad trait, Titanic is predictable but it's also a better movie, 12 years a slave just felt flat. The moment he was captured I was waiting how he is going to get away, that took another hour and a half which was too long.
 
i got duped into watching this and it was awful. made to get an oscar kind of ****e when i'm sure there are far better documentaries or literature on the subject.
 
I definitely understand when you guys say that it is one scene followed by some drivel followed by anther scene. I think the first time I was mesmerised by its brutality, and you can' deny that the performances were pretty outstanding, especially by Lupita.

I won't be watching it again any time soon, but I still think it is definitely worth a watch, even if its just to educate yourself a little bit! The performances are worth the watch on their own imho
 
jsmoke said:
I think I will find a bit dull to be honest, I have seen plenty historical dramas, does this stand out as being any different?
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With all the other dross currently about yes it is worth watching.

It tackles the subject of slavery like nothing else.

In fact I asked people in the official film thread who spouted crap about this film to post what film has tackled this subject in this way and not one person could answer.

I can't believe that Django has just been compared to 12 years in the same sentence.
 
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Glory
Amistad
Licoln
Django unchained
Blazing saddles

all better films. Ok not Licoln, that was one of the most boring films ive seen in a cinema, wish i had watched it at home.

The thing ill say is Violence as shock value no longer works too well in films because it is everywhere on the Net and on TV and in games.

So what the guy gets hung/strung up, its uncomfortable viewing but that is it. Its no worse than any yucky scene in any movie looking for a shock vote. The woman gets slapped about cos she wants a wash, boo hoo.

It utterly fails to portray time which is so completely essential to the film. I think It lost my vote right there on that point alone.

There are countless documentaries that tell the story better than "shocking" scenes that feature in every gangster film and have little meaning to them without a context of "because slavery"
 
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Thank god for that then i guess???

I got nothing from it other than thinking "ooh nasty" twice.

I know the History. I guess if you go in watching knowing nothing of the subject matter you will get fished in by the shock value.

I dunno what else to say. That's my opinion. I think he didnt make a great film. His life was more interesting after he was free again but they cut that out completely.

So what made it a good film ??? Ive said what didnt imho.

off to bed ill read in the morning :P
 
I found it boring at times and have no idea why its got the praise it has recieved.

Characters are there then gone in minutes never to be seen again, there didn't seem to be any consistency between scenes and by the end I was wishing for the end credits to roll.

I wont be watching it again.
 
easyrider said:
With all the other dross currently about yes it is worth watching.

It tackles the subject of slavery like nothing else.

In fact I asked people in the official film thread who spouted crap about this film to post what film has tackled this subject in this way and not one person could answer.

I can't believe that Django has just been compared to 12 years in the same sentence.
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The fact that it tackles the subject of slavery better than every other movie on the subject ever made does not equal a good film. It merely means it is the best movie on the subject of slavery ever made. That's it.

12 years a slave depicts the topic of slavery well.

That is as far as I can say about it. No matter what the subject matter is, no matter what the movie is, whether it is a comedy, horror or documentary, a movie has 1 main goal, keep the audience entertained, hold heir attention and eyes glued to the screen. I can tell this easily when i watch a movie by how many times I look at my watch, the sooner I look at it, the worse it is, and the more often i look at it, means i was bored during it.

I looked at my watch more times than i can remember during this movie, that's a terrible sign.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I would actually say that movie lacks soul.

Almost famous has soul, Forrest Gump has soul, The Accused has soul. Twelve Years a Slave, after the initial shock and horror at he beginning where he was woken up and beaten, the movie felt very flat. Every 15 min or so he or another character will get more physical abuse but that alone doesn't make a great movie, it makes a decent documentary. Perhaps the lack of justice is what is the downer in this movie, I wanted all those people who treated him badly to get the justice they deserved but that never happened.

Also, I really struggled with some of the very repetitive scene where the camera just sits there, 20 seconds go by, nothing happens, it's either his face or the swamp or some tree. I understand why that was used but it happened too many times.

I actually thought Django Unchained portrait slavery just as well (in a bad light) yet a better movie. I guess 12 years when you finished watching it, you haven't come out with anything you've not seen before, it doesn't show anything you didn't expect to happen. It is exactly what you think happens, happened. But I can't say predictable is a bad trait, Titanic is predictable but it's also a better movie, 12 years a slave just felt flat. The moment he was captured I was waiting how he is going to get away, that took another hour and a half which was too long.
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All of this.

Plot was seethrough from the beginning, in fact, the title gave it away really. It did nothing that Django Unchained or Mississipi Burning didnt do and despite me not really being a fan of Tarantinos movies post Jackie Brown, Django was much better and hugely more "entertaining" (if you can say that about this sort of film). Its a boring film.
 
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