Stockton Davis

Amazing film! Amazing cinematography and soundtrack! The movie felt very real and realistic in how you would imagine a ship and a sea battle. What I loved about this film the most was the thematic elements. This film showed that good leaders are those who are bold and courageous with a vision for success. Through that boldness, they are willing to seek to overcome serious obstacles. They are those who earn the respect of others by being strong and disciplined when their authority is trampled upon. All of these traits were in Captain Jack, which was why he made a good leader. The ship was successful in its mission because Captain Jack was bold, strong, and disciplined. All of these ideals are things that are so important. And the film had a perfect example of what happens when leaders don’t have those traits with Hollom. He wasn’t strong and firm, and because of that, those under him had no respect and he failed as a leader. I also loved the character comparison between the ideals of Captain Jack and Dr. Stephen, who did not understand why men had to be so bold and saw disciplining and being strong on men as tyrannical. That scene where they clash is one of my favorite scenes because it shows how their worldviews differ. Captain Jack sees his ideals as necessary; life is a hierarchy and “men must be governed,” whereas Dr. Stephen sees those ideas as outdated, against human nature, and tyrannical. Love that contrast. Dr. Stephen is also a good healthy balance to Captain Jack. Personally, I really like Jack and I feel like the film really admired him. My main issue with the film is, I wish it had spent less time on the sea battles and all the action of the ship and spent more time on the characters of Captain Jack and Dr. Stephen, as they were what made the film most powerful to me. But that is a small critique. Overall, this is a fantastic movie and a must watch.

Average film. I loved how the film showed how the west grew over decades and the unique struggles and challenges each era faced and overcame. Amazing soundtrack and cinematography! The best cinematography was the raft on the roaring current of the river. That was such an effective scene because it visually captured for us the tremendous obstacles our forefathers had to overcome. That sequence was so powerful and amazing, it just made me truly so proud to be an American. Great stuff. I also loved the end when the film connected all the different decades together. That scene captured the entire battle of American conquest of the west and how every decade owes something to the decade before them. My main issue with this film was the characters. I did not emotionally feel connected to any character. I did not like how the pacing of the film just so quickly jumped from one character to the next. It made it to where I never fully emotionally felt connected to any character or the plot. I get why they did it because they wanted to show how the west grew. I think the film should have been a bit longer to accommodate for that. So even though I loved seeing how the film showed how the west grew, because I was never fully emotionally connected to the characters, I felt a bit empty after watching the film. Overall an ok film.

Good movie. The film did a great job emotionally connecting the audience to the characters of the story. I just loved the characters in the film. One of my favorite aspects of the film is the cruel irony of how Tono was supposed to drive Rozalia out of her shop because, as a Jew, she was painted as a “drag” on society, but the irony is she and the rest of the Jewish community helped Tono out and provided for his livelihood. And that was one of the beautiful aspects of the film: Tono learning to see Rozalia and the rest of the community as fellow humans who helped others. In the end, out of gratitude, he destroyed his own prejudice and sought to help her. But this is why I love the characters. Tono never truly understood Rozalia fully when she was alive. For example, he never understood her religious Sabbath ways. And that to me was so beautiful as it made his character feel real. And what was even more beautiful is how, after he accidentally killed her, he understood and, out of love and respect for her, closed the windows of the shop. Such an emotional and powerful ending. I also loved the imagery, the almost heaven-like vision that Tono had at the end where he imagined him and Rozalia together in perfect harmony and peace without fear and danger. My main issue with the film is that at times it felt very slow, especially in the beginning. It took a while for me to fully get engaged in the film because it started out pretty slow, in my opinion. Overall a good film and worth a watch.

want in a film! An amazing plot! Loved the way the film seamlessly showed all the small details that were required to go into the murder. But small little details overlooked can cause the whole scheme to fall apart. I loved the characters in this film. They played their parts so well. The relationship between Neff and Keyes was my favorite dynamic of the film. It was so powerful how Neff’s best friend was his worst enemy, and I just loved the way we see his actual friend telling, piece by piece, the missing puzzle pieces to the mystery. Such an effective use of cruel irony. Yeah, I think what the film was trying to show us there is that Neff was so in love that he became blind and put himself in a situation where he would have to go against his own friends. And that’s why the cruel irony was so effective, it showed us that thematic element. I also loved Phyllis’s character arc. We go from sympathizing with her in her situation with her husband and stepdaughter to realizing that actually Phyllis was an awful person who was greedy and hateful. It was such a powerful character arc and so effective because when she was working with Neff we sympathize with her, but as soon as the “double indemnity” scheme began to fall apart, her mask was pulled down and her true character was revealed. Just a small critique: I do kind of wish we didn’t have a flashback in the beginning of the film, ’cause I think it would’ve been more effective, as it would have been even more suspenseful if we found out the story as it came along. But again, critique aside, a wonderful film, truly one of a kind, you have to watch this movie.