Daniel Johansen

"Platoon" is VERY good. It is without a doubt one of the best war films I have ever watched and a gem that I hope more people will find. Why it's awesome: It's anti-war at its finest. The characters in this film accomplish absolutely nothing, and that's the whole idea. Instead, the infighting within the platoon rises to a dangerous boiling point, and blood is spilled. It will have you paranoid the entire time. The Viet Cong and NVA could be anywhere, and the shocking (and timely) ambushes put an exclamation point on that statement. The jumpscare ambushes in this film put most horror movies to shame. It lends a new light on the war genre (at least for its time). It shows American soldiers doing terrible things, but only because they're scared and angry, and I would argue rightfully so. Essentially, the idea of the movie is that violence begets violence, and it punches that idea into your mind very effectively, yet it never feels forced or contrived. Because it's established early on that the jungle is incredibly hostile, the anti-war message seems all the more natural. I would highly recommend this film, with one catch: it is absolutely not for the kids unless you want your kids to hear 159 F-words among a trove of other obscenities.

So, this review is a little bit late to the table, but whatever. I'm a film major, and critiquing films is part of that. I hear a lot of talk online about "Oh, the only good thing about TDK was the Joker" or "Oh, it was overrated." Well, I don't know how else to put this other than that these takes are utterly, completely, absolutely wrong, and the only reason I can think of that someone would want to say so is because some people have a fleeting wish that some of the MCU movies could somehow top this film (they can't). "The Dark Knight" is not just one of the greatest superhero films ever made: it is one of THE greatest movies ever made. Here's why it rocks: - Pitch-perfect pacing A lot of movies have parts that should have gone by more quickly. A lot of movies have parts that should have gone by more slowly. And a lot of movies have both. But not The Dark Knight. This movie is never late nor early. Every story beat arrives precisely when it needs to. Every twist lands on a dime. Nothing drags on too long, but the movie never feels rushed either. - Pitch-perfect casting I probably don't need to tell you that Heath Ledger knocked it out of the park as Joker (although it may not have been worth it, given what happened to him. RIP, Mr. Ledger). He was menacing, mysterious, and even a tad funny when he needed to be. He stole absolutely every scene he was in, and the fact that he isn't in every scene, and instead seems to be this looming threat over the city of Gotham just makes his performance better when he is on screen. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent is my next favorite character. Even if Joker weren't in the movie, Two-Face would have been more than enough to keep this film going. He's an excellent arbiter of very interesting philosophical questions (more on that later), not to mention that it's a little bit hard to root against him, even if he may have gone on a mad rampage. Essentially, he's got every right to feel the way he does about (spoiler). He just goes about it the wrong way. Gary Oldman nailed it as Gordon. I can't remember a movie that Gary Oldman has been in where he hasn't given a great performance. Gordon is a perfectly dramatic, heartfelt, and easy-to-root-for hero. All of the other characters gave exemplary performances as well, but these three were the highlights for me. - Pitch-perfect philosophy Let me ask you some questions, and let's see how these questions make you feel. Is chance fair? How about chaos? No? Well, are chance and chaos biased? If not, does that make them fair? Think about it. Is human nature inherently good or inherently evil? Inherently good, right? Well, what happens when you live long enough to see yourself become the villain? Is humanity really good if there's so much evil in the world? This film does something very important: it makes you DOUBT everything you thought you knew about ideas you assumed were relatively basic. "The Dark Knight" is essentially the perfect movie, and if you haven't seen it, just go watch it. It's a breathtaking experience.

My recommendation to all the people giving this movie 1 star because they didn't understand it would be this: please don't rate something if you don't even understand it. That's like if someone from ancient times threw the first invented wheel into the ocean simply because they didn't understand what it was meant for. Where would we be now if that were the case? "Tenet" is, in a word, really good at paying attention to details. Does it have flaws? Yes, yes it does. Is the dialogue hard to hear? Yes. Is the protagonist not fleshed out enough? Yes. Are the motivations of Sator...weird? Yes, yes they are. However, all that aside, the film is essentially perfect, and these reasons are why I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5. This movie is really good at keeping track of where it is, where it's been, and where it's headed. Everything locks together like a perfectly-done jigsaw puzzle when you start to understand the movie. The bigger ideas of the film are fantastic, this idea of trying even though your ultimate destiny is already determined. The cinematography and practical effects are phenomenal. The plane crash looked amazing, and yes, Christopher Nolan did crash a real 747 into a real set. And inversion is cool. It just is.