Rating: 
Summary: An Experience You Will NEVER Forget
Review: Crash is not for the faint of heart, the weak stomachs, and the simple mind. Crash is a brilliant film by the best living director. James Spader gives a amazing performance as James Ballard, a bored film director who gets into a car crash and gets involved with people who are turned on by car crashes. The most haunting thing is that this is possible. But, getting back to Crash. You may think this a stupid snuff film from the despriction, but don't judge it. It is a brilliant film that won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for it's daringness, audacity, and originallity. It was also nominated for the Palme De' Ore. This is purely a great film and is my favorite film of all time. Please get this film and think about it hard, you won't regret the experience...
Rating: 
Summary: stupid....................enough said
Review: I just love how people will overrate stupid [stuff] like this saying how "intriuging" and "deep" it is.....Please!The only reason why anyone watches this is for the sex which is fine and admit that I do the same thing,so don't accuse me of being self-righteous;the real problem I have with this stupid thing is the total disregard it gives to the safety and value of other human lives.The scene where these [people] drive by a horrible car wreck and take pictures of the dead bodies to get off with.And what is the deal with the one guy fresh from a wreck with blood smeared on his forehead?He then procedes to get together with these other defects to touch themselves while they watch a taping of the car wreck that they caused.If you want sex,then save your money from this and rent a porno.A porn has better sex scenes without the several highly nauseating and vomit-worthy,gorey scenes of Crash.Case in point:this sexy lady comes out wearing fishnet stockings,but then the camera zooms in on her legs and we see she has all these stitches and scars!(wretch)...
Rating:
Summary: To have sex to the fullest is to have it dangerously.
Review: David Cronenberg's motif has always been the human flesh: "Death to Videodrome, long live the new flesh!". And in Crash he shows us an imaginary world of intimacy of the flesh by the breakdown of comfort and normal flow. The film is about technology and the flesh. The car with its normal flow of traffic symbolizes the mechanism of technology. This mechanism of technology distances us from our flesh and our animal appetites. The technology results in civilization and civilization results in hiding our animal behaviours. When this mechanism--this flow of traffic--is suddenly interrupted and destroyed by a car crash, the result is an awakening and a celebration of the human flesh. Crash is of course a metaphor. The human sex drive is driven by imagination. Crash is a metaphor of this sex drive. Part of this sex drive is the need to be alive and creative--the car crash is this symbol of creativity. When this is somehow achieved by James Ballard (James Spader's character) after crashing with Holly Hunter's character, he seeks to relive it like the Vaughan character who also seeks to relive celebrity car crashes. The car crash is like this ultimate unforgettable sexual experience that we have experienced in our life at some point in time that we consciously or unconsciously seek to experience again with the same or new sexual partners. And this seeking to relive is a fetish. The scars represent the excitement of the past and the unpredictable consequence of the car crash--whether you are going to live or die--allows for the reliving of the past to feel like new; thus, resulting in a sexual arousement. Only the car crash, metaphorically, can create this excitement because of its closeness to death--a masochistic approach. (The Marquis De Sade can understand Crash more fully I think.) This is part of the sexual side of the human condition. Why do people do things that are out of the ordinary? The answer maybe is Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy: Live life dangerously in order to live life to the fullest. Maybe the same can be said about sex. David Cronenberg's Crash is his best work along with Dead Ringers, Videodrome, and eXistenZ. The DVD picture quality is excellent and the sound is not bad for a 2.0 Dolby Surround--I do not think a 5.1 mix for a DVD re-release is needed. The DVD also allows you to choose between Rated NC-17 or the Rated R version. I would suggest the NC-17 because it is what Cronenberg fully intended. I definitely recommend Crash but it must be viewed and approached differently than any other film. If you think you are going to sit down, escape, and become involve with the characters, you mind as well forget about it. This is a thinking film and only for those who are open minded and have not been poisoned by too many recycled Hollywood movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Whoa...Cronenberg!?!
Review: Crash is one of those films people will either love or hate. To be honest, I don't know what to make of it. The bottom line for me when I watch a film is how I connect to it. I did not connect to this film, but I understand what it is saying. I think. Briefly. James (James Spader) gets in a car crash. Through this he meets Helen (Holly Hunter) and through her he meets Vaughan (Elias Koteas). Rosanna Arquette and Deborah Unger are also involved. All the priciples become, or already into this strange ritual of eroticising car crashes. This sounds like a facinating premise for a film. It is. Personally I just did not connect. In fact I found the whole thing ridiculous. However, I think David Cronenberg was getting at something. His films are often like this one. People wraped up in events they cannot fully comprehend because they are too close to them. So why do they do it? I think it is less about the sex and more about death. Staring death in the face, and cheating it. I just don't find that very arousing. That was my problem with the film. I felt the characters were so intoxicated by what they were doing that they failed to let the audience in on why this was an addiction for them. Like I said I am not really sure what to make of this so I am going to wimp out and take the middle ground. This is an erotic film, and the characters are very sexual. It is done well though, it is not overdone or dramatised. The story is dark and a little ambiguous. The performances are good. David Cronenberg has made a solid film, it just wasn't for me.
Rating:
Summary: My take on it
Review: This movie is weird! But I like it! It's like a sexual fantasy or an erotic dream put on film. There's no way this movie could be reality. These characters are on some other planet. How often do you run across people who are turned on by car accidents? In this movie there's an entire group. They're all turned on by cars slamming into each other but they're also extremely attracted to this one guy who has scars all over his body. Men and women can't resist him. The idea of areas on his body covered in scars is enough to send men and women into orgasm. His car completes the package. When he eventually dies another man takes over for him and runs his lover off the road. They're both disappointed that she didn't die but, according to them, there's always next time. These are weird people but they are very fascinating and I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Rating: 
Summary: Cronenberg Masterpiece
Review: Crash is without a doubt the most unique movie I have ever seen. The film is composed almost entirely of sex scenes that become increasingly intertwined with cars and car wrecks. While indeed shockingly graphic and sometimes hard to watch due to the film's raw brutality, there is also a gentle melancholy conveyed in the film--a deep human sadness that permeates the core of the character's lives. The film serves as a metaphor for the isolation and dehumanization brought about by modern "progress," and the obsession of humanity to overcome this by increasing risks and perversions in life in order to start feeling again, to overcome the numbing monotony of modern-day existence. Cronenberg's status as a true auteur is verified strongly by this work. His mode of filmmaking is straightforward--almost zen-like in its execution. While dealing with a controversial subject matter, Cronenberg manages to convey graphic reality without becoming exploitative or tasteless. I don't think any other director could have created what Cronenberg did, turning conventionally grotesque material into a sad but beautiful work on the darkness of the human condition in today's world. Crash is required viewing for anyone seeking a film that truly breaks the boundaries of contemporary filmmaking. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Scary Sci-Fi Social Commentary
Review: Cronenberg really made a whopper with this film. It's based on the book by noted author J.G. Ballard. It's about sexual fetishes, or should I say, one particular fetish. Actually this film is about fetishes in general and how they can dominate and/ or be dangerous in a relationship. The particular fetish in this movie are car crashes. How can car crashes be sexually gratifying, you say. Well, this movie argues that driving in traffic mirrors the growing tension in life and that crashes can cause a release of that tension, which is also the result in sex. Body tension grows and when orgasm comes the tension is released. When these two things are combined the release is much greater and therefore, more satisfying for the participants. The film is about an "open and experimental couple" who are looking for two other people to share their unique sexual preferences when the male gets into a car crash and eventually falls into a group of crash fetishists and he then brings his wife into the mix. Weird stuff indeed, but definitely believable and that's the scary thing about it. Cronenberg took some flack over the strong and explicit sexual content which is in the dialogue as well as in the visual aspect. Some called it pornographic and techinically this is correct, but this film is sedated to show a cerebral detachment from complete reality. All of the actors' performances are quiet and in a hush for most of the movie and the score by Howard Shore is the kind of film music that lets you know that you're in store for a demented and alienating movie. With these elements in place the film obviously has an outsider look on the subject matter and content. As such, the film can't be considered pornographic because it is intended to be strictly a cautionary tale and if it's considered erotic in any sense then that serves to prove the theory that the film consciously proposes. Humans will do demented/dangerous/deadly things to themselves and others if they feel assured it will provide them physical pleasure. What a powerful message and warning by a film because most people don't know how to even verbalize such an evil let alone visually represent it in an obvious and moral way.
With all of that said, this film is not uplifting entertainment and you should search elsewhere if that's what you're looking for.
Rating:
Summary: A movie that indends mixed feeling.
Review: David Cronenberg said in an interview that he intended the audience to walk away from this movie with mixed emotions about this film and the is exactly the way I feel. This film is difficult to disect because it is so cold but at the same time, very thought provoking. I walked away from this movie in a daze. Some people have commented that the pace of is slow but I was so involved in trying to figure this film out, that I didn't notice at all. If you think you can take some of the more harsh scenes in the movie, I recommend you give it a try. The DVD has both the NC-17 and R rated version of this film and the US trailer. If you really like this film, I'd recommend tracking down the Criterion edition Laserdisc. Its somewhat rare, but contains great extra's like Director commentary by Cronenberg (which gives you some real insight into the film from the man who made it), behind the scenes footage and interviews with cast and the author of the original novel, and the international trailer as well as the US one. I definitately would not recommend the uncut version to everyone because some of the scenes are not easy to watch to say the least. (and I recommend the "R" version to no one because it doesn't make much sense at all)
Rating:
Summary: Suggested Double Feature
Review: If you are reading this, you must know about James Ballard and the power of his fiction, so I will not even address the film. (You probably have already gone to the book section and bought all of Ballard's fiction. If you have not, you have made a serious mistake.) I would suggest that you (buy and) watch sequentially Empire of the Sun and Crash. This is what happened to him (sort of) and this is what it did to him. Compare the scene of Jim (Empire) caressing the Japanese Zero with the opening of Crash in the aerodrome. Makes perfect sense. Both are critical films to own. Why is The Naked Lunch not on DVD. Unacceptable, irrational, and aesthetically offensive.
Rating:
Summary: Exploring the darker side of man nature
Review: Either you will love this movie or hate it. You will have the depth of understanding necessary to unravel it's message or you won't. It's not a movie just about sex and car crashes, it's far more. It's a movie about the darker side of human nature sick, twisted. Crash is seductive, slowly luring you into shadow world of pain and death. The chance collision of two lives is the catalist that draws you down a dark path. Once you open the door and get in, Crash will take you into a world you have never known before. One thing is sure, as you drive down the highway of life and you see a horrible car accident, you slow down to look. Why? Because no one can resist looking at a wreck. You see the destruction, the pain, and even death but you look anyway. That is what watching this movie is like, staring a car crash with many victims. You hate to watch it but you can't help yourself.
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