The Experiment

It's as if the title 'The Experiment' refers to Hollywood finally trying to create a remake that surpasses the original.

It's a pale and poor remake of the brilliant German movie 'Das Experiment', which blew my mind first time I saw it.

None of that with 'The Experiment'... Even the presence of two gifted actors (Brody and Withaker) cannot rescue the poor cinematography and awful diluted script. I couldn't even properly empathise with the main character played by Brody. His actions seemed ridiculous put against the prison-experiment backdrop, so terribly written so that there isn't any true logic to his rebellion. It's also very obvious he's not doing half the acting that Moritz Bleibtreu performed in the original.

The casting was terrible, even before the experiment, I could immediately identify which characters were to become guards, and which ones prisoners. Mix this with the poor script-rewrite that put in unnecessary scenes and dialogues and that took out some of the most brilliant scenes in the original, and you get a straight-to-video production that will never be looked back on by movie fanatics anywhere, anytime.

If you have bought, borrowed or downloaded this copy, please burn or delete it. You will be much better off getting Das Experiment instead.

The Experiment has failed!

The Experiment is based on that very well known experiment that took place in Stanford University's basement where a mock prison was constructed and twenty-four applicants were divided up and given the vague roles of either a "guard" or a "prisoner." The motivation? A decent pay cut, around $15 a day (the film counterpart ups the pay to $1,000 a day). Guards were armed with intimidating, militaristic outfits, while the prisoners were ill-equipped with a smock and no underwear. Originally set to be a fourteen day test, the experiment ended after day six due to drastic measures taken by the inmates and guards that could've been fatal. Abuse was common, the issue of inferiority plagued the prisoners until they tried to force a rebellion, and borderline torturous acts were committed by the guards.

The film is the American remake of the German picture Das Experiment, as of now, unseen by me, but not totally written off. I'm not entirely sure if a film based on the prison experiment could effectively be made. This is one of those cases where history and facts overshadow fictionalization and dramatization. I believe a documentary would've been far more suited for this subject.

We are met with Adrien Brody, playing Travis, an Atheist softie who agrees to partake in a psychological experiment held by a local organization along with twenty-three other people. Early on, he meets Michael Barris (Whitaker) who seems to be a content and well-managed individual, but when he is given the title of a "guard" and Travis the title of a "prisoner," their true sides come out, and abandonment is quickly brought forth.

Much of what I explained above occurs in the film, but in a seemingly muted form. Nothing is ever very explicit or, for that matter, truly interesting. The cinematography is some to commend, perfectly personifying the prison as the one instigating the violence. The atmosphere is so gritty and real that we can see it takes a drastic effect on the people.

The whole event feels like Lord of the Flies come to life. Both Golding's timeless novel and Philip Zimbardo's 1971 experiment prove that when stripped of all things just and civil, humans will scram for security and the gray idea of "what is right?" before completely forgoing all the former rules, recognizing this is a new place, and furthermore, begin to act on their id, their desire to feed their consuming savagery. This is definitely taken into consideration in the film, and is the highest point this picture has to offer.

But as far as a worthy retelling of the events, it's pretty thin and underwhelming. The film was directed by Paul Scheuring, who directed some episodes of the FOX crime drama Prison Break, and that is exactly how it plays; like a Television crime drama. The performances, mainly by Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, and the exceptional cinematography elevate the film to a passable status, but The Experiment lacks essential character development essential to furthering ones feelings towards its prisoners, and, instead of playing like an superbly intense film, it plays like what it is; an American remake.

Starring: Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker. Directed by: Paul Scheuring.

The Experiment has an intriguing premise. Human behavior, group dynamics; what will happen when you put a group of people (all with very different personalities) in a small, stressful environment for a long period of time. As this is a straight to DVD movie it surprisingly has a good cast and doesn't suffer from small budget diseases.

The Experiment has the potential of being a great movie but never reaches it's full potential. To me it felt like certain events were rushed. This could be by the lack of explanation of the motives and the background of certain characters. Ultimately, The Experiment is watchable but forgettable. 6/10

The Experiment is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Paul Scheuring and starring Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker,Cam Gigandet and Maggie Grace.The film is also a remake of the 2001 German film Das Experiment, which was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. The experiment begins when 26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control. $14,000 for two weeks, it is easy-earned money. The study examines aggressive behavior in an artificial prison setting. At first the tenants are divided randomly into prisoners and guards, but soon a spiral of violence begins.

I had some hope for this film because I remember seeing the original Das Experiment more then a year ago and enjoying it. Although brutal the film was brilliant in the way it explored human nature, human instincts, and one's moral compass. It's actually quite surprising that it took such a long time (9 years) for Hollywood to assassinate, pardon me, remake this very interesting story which is actually based on the Stanford prison experiment that took place in 1971 and was highly criticized afterwords. The problem with this remake is that, as in most things Hollywood, it's all about big name actors and big fights and nice camera angles. What's most important, the characterization and the character development which are the things that make this story, were completely thrown aside. One of the consequences of doing so is that the film felt extremely rushed and therefor the payoff wasn't that great. I didn't think there was real tension, and the film lacked that gritty look of the original, instead it looks sharp and polished.

Also, it's one thing to put your own spin into a story but this remake eliminated an entire dimension of the original film. I'm talking about the people behind the cameras, the scientists watching and conducting the experiment. They played a big part in the original and in this remake they are nowhere to be seen and it truly diminished the story. Regarding the acting, I thought Adrien Brody did a pretty good job and Cam Gigandet was delightfully nasty as he usually is. On the other hand, Forest Whitaker was absolutely awful. In almost every film that see him in, he acts like he has a speech impediment and to be honest, it adds nothing to his performance. Overall, The Experiment it's somewhat enjoyable but not nearly as good as the original.

6/10

Don't mind the bad review up there, whether you've seen or not the German original version, The Experiment still remains an excellent movie with two great actors (and a great plot): Forrest Whitaker and Adrien Brody. Interesting movie that shows that even if we all pretend to have some kind of moral, we all still remain animals that will bite to defend our pack. Sometimes you watch a 96mn movie and it feels like you were watching The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston (don't mean this is a bad film, it's just very long), but this one is the total opposite! you'll be annoyed when the credits will appear at the end. Also, if like me you're a bit sick and tired of the current Hollywood buzz which consists to make many spy movies with a huge budget, you will enjoy that film, because it's quite simple, only few rooms needed at location. So the question is: are you a prisoner?