Now, I have to say this is not a usual film type for me. I don't usually watch movies involving sports, art house styles, or movies that win a lot of awards, because most of the time I just really don't care. It is like the movie LA LA LAND, I know a lot of people are raving about it, and it has already won a few awards, but it just looks dull to me. I am not a fan of most musicals, not do I enjoy a lot of romance movies, and it seems to have both. This is not me saying I will never watch it, just that I usually don't watch movies that gather a lot of award hype. Often I never really understand why these movies get so much attention. The same was somewhat true with the movie FOXCATCHER.
If you do not know the story behind this movie it is about two brothers, Mark and Dave Schultz, gold medal winning wrestlers, and their relationship with John DuPont. Mark struggles after winning the gold medal while Dave runs a wrestling studio. Eventually John DuPont, of the DuPont fortune, decides he would like to be the center of the wrestling world and hires Mark to help him start a training camp for wrestlers. John has an interesting relationship with Mark, it seems almost like a love hate, and from the movie John really does think a lot of himself, commenting that he is the mentor, father figure, and coach for the young men, and for Mark. Eventually John pushes too far and Mark leaves, his brother Dave takes over, and things twist from there. The last few scenes of the movie are a little out of sync as we watch what is supposed to be John's mental fall and Dave's murder.
This was a quiet movie, and at two and a half hours I felt it was a little too long and a little too slow. Not much happened and in reality while watching I felt they could have done more with the character of John to make the viewer feel uncomfortable with his behavior and slow decline into madness. The murder was the most shocking part of the film, and I did wonder if it happened exactly the way the movie portrayed it.
One thing I do have to say I enjoyed was the fact that they didn't say much about John DuPont before the credits. The movie ended by telling the viewer what happened to Dave, and how his family was, then it told the viewer how Mark was and where how he was, and it only said that John died in prison. I liked that it didn't try to make John the center of the movie, and it didn't say much about his defense or anything, which was awesome.
While I can't recommend this movie, it was much too slow and not enough happened to keep me interested. I did learn a little about wrestling, but not enough to recommend a movie of this length. I also am not sure why it won any awards, unless it was for Steve Carell's portrayal of John DuPont.
If you do not know the story behind this movie it is about two brothers, Mark and Dave Schultz, gold medal winning wrestlers, and their relationship with John DuPont. Mark struggles after winning the gold medal while Dave runs a wrestling studio. Eventually John DuPont, of the DuPont fortune, decides he would like to be the center of the wrestling world and hires Mark to help him start a training camp for wrestlers. John has an interesting relationship with Mark, it seems almost like a love hate, and from the movie John really does think a lot of himself, commenting that he is the mentor, father figure, and coach for the young men, and for Mark. Eventually John pushes too far and Mark leaves, his brother Dave takes over, and things twist from there. The last few scenes of the movie are a little out of sync as we watch what is supposed to be John's mental fall and Dave's murder.
This was a quiet movie, and at two and a half hours I felt it was a little too long and a little too slow. Not much happened and in reality while watching I felt they could have done more with the character of John to make the viewer feel uncomfortable with his behavior and slow decline into madness. The murder was the most shocking part of the film, and I did wonder if it happened exactly the way the movie portrayed it.
One thing I do have to say I enjoyed was the fact that they didn't say much about John DuPont before the credits. The movie ended by telling the viewer what happened to Dave, and how his family was, then it told the viewer how Mark was and where how he was, and it only said that John died in prison. I liked that it didn't try to make John the center of the movie, and it didn't say much about his defense or anything, which was awesome.
While I can't recommend this movie, it was much too slow and not enough happened to keep me interested. I did learn a little about wrestling, but not enough to recommend a movie of this length. I also am not sure why it won any awards, unless it was for Steve Carell's portrayal of John DuPont.
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