Fifty Percent Grey

This film was a nominee for the Oscar for Best Animated Short for 2002. The film that won that year was FOR THE BIRDS--a film I enjoyed much more than FIFTY PERCENT GREY. While FIFTY was a nice film to look at graphically, the story didn't catch my attention. Plus, it was awfully depressing and unsatisfying. Now I am NOT saying that films or short films must be funny and sweet like FOR THE BIRDS (heck, I like a dark film as much as the next person), but here it just didn't catch my attention and the film didn't seem particularly noteworthy. Perhaps it was a slow year for the Oscars or perhaps I just don't see it the way others do (and this is very, very possible). It's just that the final punchline didn't seem all that funny or interesting. Sorry.

This seems to have split the reviewers here straight down the middle . I just caught it and had to bare in mind that this was done away back in 2001 . Since then 3D animation has come forward in leaps and bounds to the point one might become blasé about the whole concept and the animation here would have seemed genuinely impressive back in the day of its production . I did like the story which is constructed in much the same way as " There was a Scotsman , Englishman and Irishman and they walk in to a pub and .. " with the entire story being built up to a punch line . I also think there's a subtext here that many people spend far too much time in front of a television , games console or laptop screen so I'm guessing it hits home to all us contributors who spend far too much time on the IMDb

There were few or no technical flaws in this short, which in 3 minutes follows a lone soldier in eternity (a completely white horizon with TVs and VCRs that tell him where he is). He tries multiple rounds of suicide, but he wakes up at every instance, and he's in a different part of the same place (according to the TV).

Who is this guy? How did he get there? I think if this film were more developed it has potential of being something very groundbreaking. However, you can't fault the sound, which is extremely tight.

Though this film is more clever than impressive, its blending of styles and the texture of the movie in general should have beat out the God awful "For the Birds" for the Oscar. The animation is first rate and the gorestick is classy as hell. The movie would be like a cross between Chuck Jones and Sam Rami if only the soldier looked like Bruce Campbell.

Although the content may seem a little harsh to some viewers I found it to be quite amusing. The concept of your final reward being the same regardless of your actions on earth (or in that very after life) strikes me as a creepy kind of practical joke by the cosmos. Perhaps he was an evil person in life and was in hell from the very beginning. This is simply the fates way of adding insult to injury (or irony to eternity in this case.) I can think of nothing worse than an eternity of nothingness and confusion (except of course for having to sit through an eternity of academy awards shows.)