dnpian0

There are a lot of things I liked about this movie, but I have to be honest, throughout a lot of scenes I was bored. I don't know what it was, but I think it comes down to the fact that the basic storyline is not really that interesting and/or original. It is, after all a regular ganster movie with regular conflicts. Lots of men in suits threatening each other, lots of talk about money, barely any females. I would even go so far as to say that this could be described as being style without substance, or (if I was being radical) as being the kind of movie that promotes a dangerous image of masculinity.

BUT, that being said, I did enjoy it because it had everything I like about Guy Ritchie movies. I just love the fast cuts and the often absurd humor and the slickness of it all. As a female, I just have a thing for seeing neatly dressed guys with neatly cropped hair trying to outwit each other.

So yeah, there were moments I found dry and the basic story is something I rather not think about too deeply, but I do think that it was quite well-made for what it was.

What I believe people should know before they decide to watch this is that it is long, the pace is slow, the imagery sometimes very confusing and there's some nudity (both male and female). There's also not much of a story. It's basically about a group of youths struggling with their relationships in the wake of WW2 (and by that I mean that each character has a strangely charged relationship with literally everyone else). That being said, it is a beautiful movie to look at. Many scenes are made to look like they were taken from old movies with overly saturated colours. Everyone acts as if in a daze which gives the whole movie a very dream-like atmosphere. In contrast to that you have the horrors of the looming war which feel completey out of place and all the more horrible.

I'm honestly not sure if I liked it or not. The length and pace made it a very hard watch for me, but in retrospect I do appreciate what it tried to achieve.