1984

Rating:
Summary: The movie was great if you've read the book.
Review: I thought that this was a pretty good movie. I read the book about two years before watching the movie and watching the movie helped me recall some of the things in the book. I believe if you read the book you must see the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Read the book for god sakes.
Review: 1984 is my favorite book of all time, but I would burn this tape if I didn't have to touch it to put it in a fire. This movie is an absolutely terrible adaptation of a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Good film adaptation of an important novel
Review: Though he compressed some very important material into a terse 2 hours, Radford brought the complex and thought provoking imagery of George Orwell's novel to life in this stunning and beautiful movie. John Hurt brilliantly portrays Winston Smith in the bleak and hopeless atmosphere of Big Brother's totalitarian, post WWII government whose sole ideal is the irradication of individuality. The brainwashing and torture scenes between Hurt and Richard Burton are superb.

Rating:
Summary: This movie sucks.
Review: You can't make a good movie out of a ideological novel like 1984. Same problem with Lolita. The "story" is all you can show on the screen, and the "story" is secondary to the ideology. So when you try to film these books, all you get is confusing fluff.

And the crossing the arms bit during the Two Minutes Hate? Please.

I gave it one star, only because the program wouldn't let me post without it.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and unforgettable images!
Review: From the opening scenes of this film, I knew I was in for a treat! Not many films leave knots in my stomach long after the credits roll like it did in '1984'. Having previously read the book helped immensely (especially towards the ending). However, the book was not able to portray the horrific and unshakable images of a person being brutally tortured! I felt awful as I watched this human being suffer to that extreme(and it was only a movie!). I must say I didn't "enjoy" the movie, and would most likely shudder at just the idea of watching it again. Although I geatly admire the film for making me feel that way, because the filmmakers obviously made their point. Wonderful job on the adaptation and directing. Not to mention superb acting, cinematography, and musical score. Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' was the only other movie that left me with these feelings and images left in my mind. But after viewing '1984' only once, I must say Kubrick's film doesn't hold a candle to Orwell's classic, nightmatish Utopian society. Do not be misled by the first half of the film. It takes a drastic and nasty turn in the second which is definetly NOT for the squeamish. Overall, the movie is a well-made and unforgettable adaptation that reaches its important message.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent screen adaptation!
Review: Mike Radford did an excellent job of bringing 1984 to the screen. He managed to capture all of the grimy feel of Orwell's novel. John Hurt was an inspired piece of casting and closely matches the description of Winston Smith which Orwell lays out in the book. At times I found Hurt's performance uncanny.

I must say here that I've read the original novel and in order to appreciate the film, a reading of Orwell's classic is highly recommended if you want to really get the message.

Rating:
Summary: Best screen adaption of a novel that I have seen.
Review: The movie adaptation of 1984 does a masterful job of bringing to the screen the atmosphere of the totalitarian state. The dingyness, squallor, and overall state of opression are effectively conveyed to the audience. The reduction of the vocabulary in order to create Newspeek was perphaps the most sinister of the plots that were in play. To reduce the size of the vocabulary is to reduce the complexity of thought, thus creating a population of non-thinking individuals. I thought Burton and Hurt gave equally good performances. Hurt, the very mild mannered functionary, conveyed the constant state of fear that this society had put him in and Burton, the party bureaucrat, gave an outstanding performance as an individual who craved power who loved using it towards the misery of others.

Rating:
Summary: where is the "original" movie 1984?????????
Review: Where is the "original" movie 1984???????

Rating:
Summary: This movie isn't even worth one star!
Review: This movie put me to sleep when I saw it. I haven't read the book yet, but I think that the book will be better than this movie. I hated this movie because it had no real story line to it. At first, this movie excited me, but as it progressed it began to get boring until it almost got over.

Rating:
Summary: Book to Movie never works! But its a great movie!!!
Review: This is the best screen adaptation of a book that I have ever seen. John Hurt was marvelous as Winston and Richard Burton fabulous as O'Brien. Both portrayed their characters masterfully. Winston with his fear, paranoia, and government mastered delusions. O'Brien with his mastery and control of everyone around him.

Drawing Winston into a conspiracy that he knew nothing about only to later use that against him, the O'Brien character masterfully subverts then terrorizes this man simply for the shear pleasure of it.

Chilling portrayls by both actors.