A perennial favorite. Every time I watch it, I find certain sequences remarkable. I forget about how powerful certain visuals - and certain sequences - are. As a result, I start watching it for the remarkable scene where Jim wakes up and wanders a deserted city. Then I forget about how amazing the battle at the castle is.
My wife found this movie more distressing when she first saw it. I didn’t find the ending as powerful, but on repeat viewings, I pay closer attention to the performances during the entire military sequence. As I get better at distinguishing all the soldier and their personalities, I find this part of the movie much more eerie.
I still feel a little conflicted about how the movie is shot. I don’t mind the kind of grainy, low-resolution photography, and I think it works well for this movie. When frustrates me more is the heavy use of weird angles and incredibly fast cuts. Again - if I can’t tell what’s happening, I don’t get scared. I used to be more annoyed by how the last act seems especially difficult to follow because of the lower light. Now, I think it could be better, but it’s not as bad.
The strangest weakness that the movie has is how there’s a stretch of calm, safe living during a stretch in the middle. It’s an effective tool to make the last act a bit more powerful, but I wonder what the experience of the movie would be like if there were more tension leading up to it.
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