Whiplash (2014) Review
Whiplash (2014) Review
I know that I am late for this movie and that this movie came out last year. But, I wasn't able to view it at the time because of school, but now that I watched it, I'm ready to give out my first review. Yes, this is my very first review on a movie. So, let's get to it. I try very hard to not spoil any of the movie, but I had to spoil some just to make some points about the movie, so this just a warning. And if you just want to skip to the verdict, it's under Verdict and Conclusion in the end.
The Introduction
Let me just start off by saying that, automatically, Whiplash is pretty much the best film I've ever seen this year by far. Now, I can see why so many critics are praising it.
The Plot
Okay, in case, you don't know what Whiplash is or what it's about, Whiplash is directed by Damien Chazelle, and interestingly, the movie is somewhat based on Chazelle's experience as a musician. So, back to the plot.
The plot centers on Andrew Neiman (played by Miles Teller), who is an ambitious jazz drummer, who really wants to be very best of the music class. Not surprisingly, he's very good at drumming. Terence Fletcher (played by J.K Simmons), who is the director in the elite jazz ensemble and most known for his brutal teaching ways, discovers Andrew and puts him into his top jazz ensemble. This forever changes Neiman's life, and his passion to achieve to be the best and to be perfect turns into obsession, as Fletecher pushes him to edge of his limits....and even his sanity.
Yes, I paraphrased a little bit of the synopsis from Google. If you want to read more of the synopsis, check out the link below:
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/synopsis)
The Good Things About The Movie
1. The Acting - Good lord, I can't tell you enough about how good the acting was, especially the performance J.K Simmons brought. I think this performance was the very best that he's given ever. J.K Simmons even won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and he deserves it. He absolutely killed it in this movie. And it's one of the best things of this movie. I love the way how Simmons portrays as a very aggressive person, who psychologically breaks this kid down, who just wants to do great. He absolutely rips him to shreds. He gets angry at the tiniest of mistakes because he demands absolute perfection. It's just gorgeous acting. Like, picture, J Jonah Jameson from Spiderman (you know, that dude who was Peter Parker's boss; that funny guy, who wanted to show people that Spiderman was a crook. Yeah, that dude) shaved off his head, decided to become a jazz band instructor, and became extremely aggressive and vulgar. That's pretty much Fletcher in comparison to J Jonah.
Now, for Miles Teller, his acting probably wasn't as stellar as J.K's was, but it was still good for the most part. It's not like his acting was bad or anything; in fact, he did an amazing job, and it's probably the only movie that Miles Teller was actually good in. What he brought me in Whiplash was proof that Miles does have talent. It's just that he needs to be directed in the right way.
It's just beautiful of how convincing and believable these characters. And in the movie, you understand why these characters act this way. You understand why Fletcher is aggressive and mean, you understand why Andrew does the things he does, which in the perspective of a sane person may seem absolutely stupid.
2. The Music - The music was just beautiful, and that's not surprising, since the director, interestingly, was a musician who once had an intense music teacher like Terence Fletcher, which inspired him to create the character. That's a fun fact. Another fun fact is that Whiplash is actually the song name of the movie. If you watch the movie, you'll see what I mean. Just listen to the music from the link below:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2lWF8ohXuI)
3. The Ending - HOLY GOD!!! The last 15 or so minutes of the movie was extraordinary, probably the best ending to a movie ever. And the ending was the best part of the movie, and if you watch other reviews, you'll see reviewers talk about the ending because it's so climatic and intense. Probably, the thing that made the ending so good was that it was so unexpected. I would recommend to just watch the movie the whole way through to intensify the experience of watching the ending because you probably won't get the same experience if you just look up the ending on YouTube and it probably won't be as intense as watching the whole movie because you don't have any context.
--------------------------------------
WARNING #4 CONTAINS SPOILERS AND IT'S KIND OF LONG, SO IF YOU WANT, JUST SKIP TO THE NEXT SECTION!
4. The Themes - Another thing that I absolutely love about the movie is how the movie is much more than just music. It's about the obsession to striving for perfection. It's about the cost of wanting to be great and how being great can be a gift and a curse, because striving to excel in Fletecher's band is ruining his life. Andrew dumps on his girlfriend so he can fully focus on jazz, he got kicked out of Shaffer (which is the school that Andrew is in). It's about is it worth going through all of that pain just to prove our self-worth in something? His band director literally keeps his band in school until 2:00 in the morning because the drummers couldn't stay in tempo. Yeah, I'm not kidding. That's how insane Fletcher is. This is so hard for Andrew because the music he has to play is EXTREMELY FAST and difficult. Everytime he goes home, he practices the music, and everytime he gets done practicing, his hand is literally bleeding because he has to play so fast. This is theme is very personal to me because I personally go through this myself. Now, I don't stay in school until 2:00 in the morning and I don't drum at like 300 beats per minute because I'm not a drummer. I'm an alto and tenor saxophonist and clarinet player (I'm not that great though). I love jazz. I really do. I love music in general. But, this movie is most relatable to me because I have an obsession for perfection just like Andrew and Fletcher that it kind of drives me insane when something doesn't go right when I want it to. I want to succeed. I want to be one of the great scientists. I want to discover something to change the world...., but I can't do that yet, and it's kind of frustrating.
What interests me is how the characters are so similar when you think about it, but they have that contrast. They both want perfection in their music, they both want to be successful, but Fletcher's philosophy is different. He acts the way he does so he can push people "beyond what's expected of them". He believes that jazz is dying, which I kind of don't believe it is. Sure, jazz isn't prominent in our culture, but I don't think jazz will ever go away, but I can understand why he could believe. So, he wants jazz to stand out. Okay, enough of that, next section. I'm done spoiling.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Bad Things About The Movie
I don't particular have any bad things to say about the movie. I didn't find any major things wrong with the film at all, but it's not perfect okay. The things I'm about to critique the movie are just little pet peeves and things that I think that might improve the movie a little bit better if they were there.
1. They didn't explore Fletcher's character enough - The biggest thing that I was kind of disappointed about was how they missed the opportunity to go a little bit more in depth of Fletcher's character. I kind of want to know more about the guy. (Spoiler alert)..............There was a scene in which Fletcher and Andrew talk to each other in a private moment (end spoil), and they did explain why does Fletcher act the way he does, but that's kind of it. I kind of wanted more. But, regardless, it hardly took away the experience of how good this movie was, but it was still kind of bothersome.
Verdict & Conclusion
Just to make it short and sweet, Whiplash is a must-see for ANY musician who hasn't seen it. If you enjoy jazz music, this is a must-own. Simple as that. The ending will leave you at the edge of your seat. The performances from Miles Teller and J.K Simmons were amazing, and the musical performances were very good. GO. SEE. THIS. MOVIE.
Score: 9.7/10
Please comment how you felt about the movie, if you saw the movie.
I know that I am late for this movie and that this movie came out last year. But, I wasn't able to view it at the time because of school, but now that I watched it, I'm ready to give out my first review. Yes, this is my very first review on a movie. So, let's get to it. I try very hard to not spoil any of the movie, but I had to spoil some just to make some points about the movie, so this just a warning. And if you just want to skip to the verdict, it's under Verdict and Conclusion in the end.
The Introduction
Let me just start off by saying that, automatically, Whiplash is pretty much the best film I've ever seen this year by far. Now, I can see why so many critics are praising it.
The Plot
Okay, in case, you don't know what Whiplash is or what it's about, Whiplash is directed by Damien Chazelle, and interestingly, the movie is somewhat based on Chazelle's experience as a musician. So, back to the plot.
The plot centers on Andrew Neiman (played by Miles Teller), who is an ambitious jazz drummer, who really wants to be very best of the music class. Not surprisingly, he's very good at drumming. Terence Fletcher (played by J.K Simmons), who is the director in the elite jazz ensemble and most known for his brutal teaching ways, discovers Andrew and puts him into his top jazz ensemble. This forever changes Neiman's life, and his passion to achieve to be the best and to be perfect turns into obsession, as Fletecher pushes him to edge of his limits....and even his sanity.
Yes, I paraphrased a little bit of the synopsis from Google. If you want to read more of the synopsis, check out the link below:
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/synopsis)
The Good Things About The Movie
1. The Acting - Good lord, I can't tell you enough about how good the acting was, especially the performance J.K Simmons brought. I think this performance was the very best that he's given ever. J.K Simmons even won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and he deserves it. He absolutely killed it in this movie. And it's one of the best things of this movie. I love the way how Simmons portrays as a very aggressive person, who psychologically breaks this kid down, who just wants to do great. He absolutely rips him to shreds. He gets angry at the tiniest of mistakes because he demands absolute perfection. It's just gorgeous acting. Like, picture, J Jonah Jameson from Spiderman (you know, that dude who was Peter Parker's boss; that funny guy, who wanted to show people that Spiderman was a crook. Yeah, that dude) shaved off his head, decided to become a jazz band instructor, and became extremely aggressive and vulgar. That's pretty much Fletcher in comparison to J Jonah.
Now, for Miles Teller, his acting probably wasn't as stellar as J.K's was, but it was still good for the most part. It's not like his acting was bad or anything; in fact, he did an amazing job, and it's probably the only movie that Miles Teller was actually good in. What he brought me in Whiplash was proof that Miles does have talent. It's just that he needs to be directed in the right way.
It's just beautiful of how convincing and believable these characters. And in the movie, you understand why these characters act this way. You understand why Fletcher is aggressive and mean, you understand why Andrew does the things he does, which in the perspective of a sane person may seem absolutely stupid.
2. The Music - The music was just beautiful, and that's not surprising, since the director, interestingly, was a musician who once had an intense music teacher like Terence Fletcher, which inspired him to create the character. That's a fun fact. Another fun fact is that Whiplash is actually the song name of the movie. If you watch the movie, you'll see what I mean. Just listen to the music from the link below:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2lWF8ohXuI)
3. The Ending - HOLY GOD!!! The last 15 or so minutes of the movie was extraordinary, probably the best ending to a movie ever. And the ending was the best part of the movie, and if you watch other reviews, you'll see reviewers talk about the ending because it's so climatic and intense. Probably, the thing that made the ending so good was that it was so unexpected. I would recommend to just watch the movie the whole way through to intensify the experience of watching the ending because you probably won't get the same experience if you just look up the ending on YouTube and it probably won't be as intense as watching the whole movie because you don't have any context.
--------------------------------------
WARNING #4 CONTAINS SPOILERS AND IT'S KIND OF LONG, SO IF YOU WANT, JUST SKIP TO THE NEXT SECTION!
4. The Themes - Another thing that I absolutely love about the movie is how the movie is much more than just music. It's about the obsession to striving for perfection. It's about the cost of wanting to be great and how being great can be a gift and a curse, because striving to excel in Fletecher's band is ruining his life. Andrew dumps on his girlfriend so he can fully focus on jazz, he got kicked out of Shaffer (which is the school that Andrew is in). It's about is it worth going through all of that pain just to prove our self-worth in something? His band director literally keeps his band in school until 2:00 in the morning because the drummers couldn't stay in tempo. Yeah, I'm not kidding. That's how insane Fletcher is. This is so hard for Andrew because the music he has to play is EXTREMELY FAST and difficult. Everytime he goes home, he practices the music, and everytime he gets done practicing, his hand is literally bleeding because he has to play so fast. This is theme is very personal to me because I personally go through this myself. Now, I don't stay in school until 2:00 in the morning and I don't drum at like 300 beats per minute because I'm not a drummer. I'm an alto and tenor saxophonist and clarinet player (I'm not that great though). I love jazz. I really do. I love music in general. But, this movie is most relatable to me because I have an obsession for perfection just like Andrew and Fletcher that it kind of drives me insane when something doesn't go right when I want it to. I want to succeed. I want to be one of the great scientists. I want to discover something to change the world...., but I can't do that yet, and it's kind of frustrating.
What interests me is how the characters are so similar when you think about it, but they have that contrast. They both want perfection in their music, they both want to be successful, but Fletcher's philosophy is different. He acts the way he does so he can push people "beyond what's expected of them". He believes that jazz is dying, which I kind of don't believe it is. Sure, jazz isn't prominent in our culture, but I don't think jazz will ever go away, but I can understand why he could believe. So, he wants jazz to stand out. Okay, enough of that, next section. I'm done spoiling.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Bad Things About The Movie
I don't particular have any bad things to say about the movie. I didn't find any major things wrong with the film at all, but it's not perfect okay. The things I'm about to critique the movie are just little pet peeves and things that I think that might improve the movie a little bit better if they were there.
1. They didn't explore Fletcher's character enough - The biggest thing that I was kind of disappointed about was how they missed the opportunity to go a little bit more in depth of Fletcher's character. I kind of want to know more about the guy. (Spoiler alert)..............There was a scene in which Fletcher and Andrew talk to each other in a private moment (end spoil), and they did explain why does Fletcher act the way he does, but that's kind of it. I kind of wanted more. But, regardless, it hardly took away the experience of how good this movie was, but it was still kind of bothersome.
Verdict & Conclusion
Just to make it short and sweet, Whiplash is a must-see for ANY musician who hasn't seen it. If you enjoy jazz music, this is a must-own. Simple as that. The ending will leave you at the edge of your seat. The performances from Miles Teller and J.K Simmons were amazing, and the musical performances were very good. GO. SEE. THIS. MOVIE.
Score: 9.7/10
Please comment how you felt about the movie, if you saw the movie.
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