The Experiment

This looks like a shot for shot remake of the original film that came out of Germany in 2001. The original had tension and great dialogue but no American star so ''of course like, we had to redo it! ''

I just hate it when movie companies shell out the exact same story that we've already seen. Why? Cause now we got Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker? Come on...

a) Infernal Affairs (2002) = The Departed (2006) b) Ringu (1998) = The Ring(2002) c) Funny Games U.K (1997) = Funny Games U.S (2007) d) Das Experiment (2001) = The Experiment (2010)

Are you starting to get the picture? e) Let the right one in (2008) ( excellent movie that shouldn't have been altered ) = Let me in (2010). That's 2 years. Yes. Two years.

They don't even wait ten years nowadays, they can't wait to shove the same thing down your throat. Don't encourage them. Please.

A group of people, looking to earn a quick buck, sign up for a behavior experiment. But that may have been a really, really bad idea. The experiment causes even the pacifists to turn violent, and there is no one to stop them.

This film could have been easily forgettable, but luckily they somehow secured a great cast, and I think that may have saved it from being just another American remake. Starring Adrien Brody as the pacifist (perhaps even hippie) Travis and Forest Whitaker as Barris, these two can carry the film on their own, with or without the ensemble cast.

I have to give a shout out to Fisher Stevens, who plays the professor Archaleta. I'm saddened that after some bigger hits (notably "Short Circuit") Stevens has been reduced to doing bit parts. But even more sad is the inclusion of Maggie Grace as the hippie Bay. Not that she does a poor job, but that the character is completely pointless, has no development, and her scenes only add another five or ten minutes on to the film -- which would have been more powerful without her.

The experiment shown in the film wouldn't hold up by standards today, as the safety of the people involved is now a top priority. This may have been indirectly addressed, though... I'm unsure. What I can say is that this was adapted from a 2001 German film, which was adapted from a book, which was loosely based on the Stanford Prison Experiment. I think it's safe to say that this film has nothing to do with the original experiment (it is very, very loosely based)... but I'm not sure how close it is to the other sources.

While you might be able to rent better films, this is not something to automatically pass up. If you're into survival, or enjoy these cast members, or like prison stories, you may really like this one. I was pleasantly surprised, and of all the films I see, it was one of the best in recent weeks.

Could've been done more with this one. Interesting story, slowly built, tensed, well portrayed characters (not just the main two), excellent acting (Brody and Whitaker especially), but in the end unfortunately fails to materialize all that in to something more. Apart from the plain ending and unnecessary undeveloped female character, everything else was done right and it is a gripping thriller indeed.

Probably the most important is that the movie succeeds in the main idea, catching the human nature and its transformation placed in certain conditions. As expected blinding of power and rebelling makes the violence slowly but surely spreads and the movie becomes more disturbing, answering my question why is it going straight to DVD.

Wow, I loved this movie so much. So you know the storyline. I was interested the whole time. Usually I get bored while watching movies and will play on my laptop or iphone during the movie, but this held my interest completely. Towards the end, I was actually feeling really pumped and was obviously rooting for the "prisoners".

I can't believe all the negative reviews, clearly they have no idea what makes a good movie, because this movie is amazing. I was literally drawn into the emotions of all the key players in the movie. Yea sure, they didn't devolve deep into the characters pasts, but it the movie shows reactions of the now and those reactions and emotions are acted beautifully. I could feel the pain the characters were feeling, I could also see the craziness some of the characters were showing.

The movie sends a clear message of, treat people like animals and they will act like animals.

The acting in this movie is wow, amazing. The script is well written. The camera angles, the lighting everything was great.

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