Rating: 
Summary: Bleak and oblique.
Review: Its an ok premise but its the weirdness that comes through more than anything else. And its oh so slow.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent movie, but the IRONY is inescapable.....
Review: First of all, this movie is a pretty good translation of a Bradbury book that is, frankly, only middle-of-the-pack for his career. It may be Bradbury's best plot, but the execution is a tad lacking. So, it seems appropriate that this movie suffers the same fate. That's not to say you shouldn't see it. You should. It is a good movie, just not a great one. But besides, the VALUE of this story (in book and in film) is in the message of the plot, not in the execution. The actual characterization, dialogue, etc are all just there to be serviceable to the moral of the story. Which brings me to the great IRONY of this movie. In making a movie that condemned book-burners, the filmmakers were forced to become book-burners themselves.... Delicous, isn't it?
Rating: 
Summary: A Neglected Classic
Review: This film has failed to attract the attention and appreciation which I think it deserves. Directed by Francois Truffaut and based on Ray Bradbury's novel, it co-stars Oskar Werner (Guy Montag) and Julie Christie in two roles (Linda and Clarisse). The cinematography provided by Nicolas Roeg is superb. The title specifies the temperature at which paper will burn in a totalitarian society in which books are systematically incinerated by "firemen" whose single purpose is to eliminate anything which encourages and nourishes freedom of thought. Montag is one of them, a Fire Captain. Over time, his loyalties become divided between a love of literature and an obligation to destroy it. Hence the dual role for Christie: Clarisse McClelland is a neighbor and book lover to whom Montag is attracted (in several different ways) whereas Linda is committed to feeding the bonfires with as many books as can be located. Why do books pose such a serious threat? In the novel, Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way. "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy." In other words, entertain people with mindless television programming, thereby to isolate them from any ideas which could raise doubts about the oppressive system. The quality of acting is consistently outstanding throughout the cast. The film is generally faithful to Bradbury's novel, taking certain liberties here and there but preserving the atmospherics of menace, fear, and (worst of all) submission. The heroes and heroines are those who meet in secret, sharing passages which they have memorized from great books. So long as that process continues, "dangerous ideas" will be kept alive.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoughtful- not fluffy
Review: It was a strange movie; the edgy feeling was on par with, say, Edward scissor-hands. That was mostly due to the Score being very well done. A beef I have with a lot of more modern movies is that people don't use their score and background music well anymore. With the exception of Lord of the Rings, the use of themes takes the place of mood- and that's not really a good thing. In Fahrenheit, the music sets the tone and helps you interpret the intended emotional effect. Otherwise, in a movie with so little dialogue and such stone-faced acting (which wasn't as negative as it sounds), you'd hardly know what you were supposed to feel! The story is set in the near future, in a time when books have been outlawed. The main character is a fireman- no, he doesn't put out fires (homes these days are modern and fire-proof - he starts them by burning books. Firemen are trained to go out on calls to people's homes, raid them of all their hidden books and burn them. Television totally controls the culture standard as all people are brought into uniformity with each other. The communist idea of everyone being made alike is brought to its full manifestation. The Fireman begins to read the books he burns after meeting a lady who doesn't quite fit the mold. Eventually he is caught, murders his captain with a flame thrower and escapes to live with the Book People, a commune of individuals each of whom have memorized some great work of literature in order to preserve it. "I'm 'The Prince' by Machiavelli" says one scraggly looking man, "It should now be plain that you can't judge a book by its cover!" Seeing as it is an older movie, everything about it is tame as far as how nasty stuff is portrayed. People smoke (books about lung cancer used to make them upset, so they were burned to preserve their happiness), overdose of pills, die fiery deaths among piles of forbidden books, and get shot. But none of it is anywhere near the more brutal or sickening kinds of violence and such one is used to seeing in movies. Incidentally, the one love scene in this movie consists of the wife knocking her husband onto the bed, untying his bathrobe to reveal *gasp* long sleeve and long legged pajamas, and as she wraps her arm around his PJs and kisses him, the scene fades. As a philosophical movie, it does well, bringing up some excellent questions about "common good", "individuality", and "happiness". As pure entertainment, or party fare, it does very little good at all. Rent it and think through the questions the "model society" brings.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the future
Review: "Look, mummy, there's going to be a fire!" exclaims the young boy as hero Sontag goes off on his duty to keep people from learning. This little film, that couldn't keep up with its big brother book, still packs quite a wallop. The "future" presented in this flick definitely seems like the past in 2004. Still, the message of anti-intellectualism is as rich and poignant today as anytime. Even by digital 2004 standards "F451" remains a memorable landmark about a time in world history when people worried about things as mundane as book burning, government intrustion in personal lives, and seeking life experience greater and more meaningful than looking nice, having a good figure and an empty head.
Rating:
Summary: Oskar Werner, François Truffaut and Bernard Herrmann
Review: Any film that has Oskar Werner in the lead, is directed by François Truffaut and has a score by Bernard Herrmann has to make one sit up and take notice. Taken from Ray Bradbury's futuristic novel Truffaut's outlook is still not entirely satisfying for those who choose to read as Herrmann's music seems to underscore. The images remain haunting.
Rating:
Summary: "Dumbed-Down" Remake Unnecessary
Review: As I read over some of the reviews from those who found grave fault with this wonderful science fiction classic, I cannot help but see the irony in how the theme and message of this story ~ decline of human potential, insight, perception and intelligence, and the inevitable individual/socital disconnect from emotion due to limitation of the full spectrum of human communication ~ is lost on so many people today, who ironically have every right and capacity to read and communicate as they please...or, closer to the truth, at the level their culture has more or less "instructed" and conditioned them to. It's no coincidence that, just as the characters in this story are blind to their own repression, many people in these times would be unable or unwilling to acknoweldge that chosen, self imposed limitation. People who have been raised in a culture that doesn't promote and encourage reading(beyond what is deemed necessary), that doesn't encourage a broad range of views(mass media primarily espousing one all encompassing view via "wall screens")and is comprised of people who have been intellectually malnourished by huge doses of insipid tv programs and empty, high-gloss FX movies, will yes, in all likelihood, find Farenheit 451 to be "too slow" and "boring". However, there is lyrical beauty and black humor in this prophetic tale for those who have the eye and heart to recognize it. It's the story of man's awakening to his own repression and the subsequent struggle to break free from a counterfeit, by-the-numbers existence, and a manifold love story as well; Montag meeting the young woman who sparks the buried flame, and the love of ever expanding consciousness, imagination and inherent knowledge of self. Is it merely man's 'ability' or is it an actual 'need' to record and even create himself through the translation of thought-into-written word? "I have to catch up with the remembrance of the past".."there is a person behind each one of these books, and that's what interests me", Montag tells his TV-brainwashed wife. He knows she is beyond reach, but senses new hope within himself, and new romance with his book-stashing neighbor.
Isn't it, afterall, the possibility of new found love(of life)that inspires and compells him to overcome his repression? For those who prefer their science fiction grounded in the questioning and dilemma of the human condition and existence, this unconventional love story is quite rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: Literature vs. comic-book
Review: I saw "Fahrenheit" the first time when I was 12. I was entranced. I had never seen anything remotely like it before. This is science fiction film-making at it's best, a triumph of the human spirit. It is packed with many interesting and powerful scenes, wonderful and subtle acting, and thoughtful premises rarely seen on a sci-fi screen, and is infused with a lyricism and pathos that is as poignant and relevant today as it was in 1968 when the film was made. It proves that a movie doesn't have to cost 80 million dollars to create a lasting and profound impression, and that science fiction isn't just for children with high thresholds for lime-green gore. Absolutely classic!
Rating:
Summary: Zzzzzzzzzzzz ...
Review: ... zzzzzzz ... what? huh? Oh ... sorry, folks, but I must say this is a sleeper ... literally. If ever a film were ripe for a complete remake, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but beautifully so
Review: No one can deny the unintentional camp value of this great movie. Might have even been the first movie set in a future of full of pill poppers and flat panel TV walls.
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