Crash

Rating:
Summary: Why does anyone listen to Maltin anyway?
Review: Thus film may not appeal to someone's taste, but there can be no question it was brilliantly crafted. But all Maltin can do is squirm in his seat. Where does he get the right to pontificate about films, and why is his nonsense printed here? He actually appeared in "Gremlins 2", you know.

Rating:
Summary: This is SO wrong...
Review: What 'Deliverance' did for kayaking down remote rivers out in the middle of nowhere, and 'Jaws' did for going to the beach, 'Crash' does for head-on automobile collisions! And just when I thought there were no more weird sexual fetishes to go 'round. People getting off to car crashes and accident scenes? Yeesh-it's definitely one of the most perverse concepts I've ever been exposed to. But then again, writer-producer-director David Cronenberg is infamous for making (or in some cases re-making) movies that contain surreal & disturbing elements ("Naked Lunch", "Scanners", the new version of "The Fly", "The Dead Zone", et. al.). Here, his realization of concepts from the book this flick is based on helped make 'Crash' into a disquieting, rather than erotic, movie experience. A sex-scene-filled NC-17- rated feature that's more a turn-off than anything else is definitely a rare cinematic find. And even though the 'crash' fetish was something that was imagined for this film (or, to be more precise, imagined for the book that was- well, you know...), I'll never look at those highway accident-scene rubberneckers in quite the same way ever again!

Of course, if you're too uptight to watch the extra-naughty version, you can select the somewhat-more-prudish R-rated rendition. Rounding out the bonus features are a restricted-audience trailer (never knew they made those!), text mini-bios & filmographies of the marquee cast & crew, and- well- that's about it. But it's not like you're gonna watch this for extra features anyway, now is it...?

'Late

Rating:
Summary: Sex, Cars, and Danger
Review: In this film, we're introduced to a fringe society of sorts who derive arousal from car crashes; watching them, reenacting them, and causing them. With no characterization by which to interpret the characters' motivations, the viewer is left with no protagonist with whom to identify. All you see is a bunch of shallow [people] who get... pleasure from bizarre and reckless behavior.

If the novel upon which this movie was based held no more substance than the film itself, the two have combined to create one of the worst wastes of paper/celluloid in history.

Rating:
Summary: Not what you'd expect
Review: Have you ever sat at home at seen a car commercial and felt excitement & revolt in the same moment. Why are car commercials shot so smoothly, so assuredly? Have you ever listened to someone describe why they love Jesus and thought perhaps that the vigor they were using would be better suited to the description of a lover? If so, this is the film for you.

So many of the reviews out there for this film mention the word "erotic", but the context in which the word is used is all wrong. From the opening credits in a metallic limbo, to the first scene shot in one of the most alienating place in the world (the airport), this film is so UN-erotic it's shocking. This is perhaps one of Cronenberg's most enigmatic films (what is he saying here, commenting upon?)and as such, it really doesn't deserve to be dealt with in conventional means. It's indeed telling that in more than a few scenes, Cronenberg places the viewer/you in the position of the camera, going so far as to have the actors look at you (as if to say "So, What Do you indeed think about this?"). The performances here are wonderful (especially Unger & Elias)as is the cinematography and the music (by the underappreciated Howard Shore). It helps if while watching you keep in mind that the obsession can be anything; say you replace the Crash obsession with the God obsession, then you'll get what this film is about.

I give it four stars not five because Cronenberg has made better films (which is to say that even when he's making lesser ones they're still phenominal)and because the film fails to have the scope that the novel had (a great book). For anyone interested in modern estrangement & alienation,sexual dissonance & exploration, this is the film for you.

Rating:
Summary: Fine book Terrible movie
Review: If you read JG Ballard's book, Crash, it was likely in the context of his broader work, such as High Rise & Concrete Island & especially The Atrocity Exhibition. He creates unique hermetic worlds with a physical, social, geographical & psychological reality unto themselves and boy oh boy does it ever work. Just read parts of the Atrocity Exhibition story collection if you haven't the time or patience for his longer works. Ballard is a true giant of contemporary literature & consciousness. But this movie version of Crash is something else entirely. Highly self-conscious, it bears more in common with those many Hollywood independent features which pretend to satirize the corruption & decadence of Hollywood (of which Barton Fink was one of the more admirable exemplars) but wind up being puerile vanity productions. This film should have been a cosmic satire on modern alienation; instead it's a sad example of it.

Rating:
Summary: A masterful director shows what he can do with a great book
Review: This film's delayed distribution and release in Britain made it unsuccessful commercially, but its style and content made it an instant classic for fans of the Cronenberg genre. The performance of James Spader is so much like Christopher Walkern in The Dead Zone I almost forgot I was watching a different movie. As in several of Cronenberg's films, the lead character has a deadly curiosity, and his desire to learn more leads him into dangerous areas. In this case, he is becoming more and more involved in the (fictional so far as I know!) fetishising of car crashes and their effects and the people who take such behaviour to its extremes. Cronenberg knows how to push cinema to the boundaries of good taste, then to crash right through them. This both excites and repulses us at the same time. Whilst watching this film I felt thrills I hadn't felt for a long time, comparable to those an adolescent experiences on any new sexual discovery. Just as Spader is taken from his world of mild infidelity into a bizarre underworld where the subject fetish is the norm, we are taken out of familiar movie territory, into an area which is deepest Cronenberg.

Isolated from the film, it would be laughable to see groups of people pay good money to watch a man crash a car dressed in an unconvincing wig, but our involvement by the time this scene arrives is so complete it seems quite normal. The viewer is so drawn into the narrative that it seems like we are among those who have paid to see a man crash a car in a wig...hang on, we have! The film also features an extension of the exaltation of James Dean, in that his car has been restored and the famous crash re-created, a seemingly tasteless treatment of one of cinema's icons, but is this in reality a mere extrapolation of the morbidity and voyeurism of his many admirers?

This film makes you think. Would you put your life at risk for the purpose of getting a new thrill? Many people do every day with drugs or high speed driving. For those of us who have experienced crashes, can we compare the intense mixture of emotions with sex? Credit for this most original of ideas must be given to J.G.Ballard, writer of the book. Only with new ideas like this can Cronenberg sustain his reputation. That this film is not wholly down to the vision of one man benefits it enormously. The actors all seem committed and Hunter and Arquette are sexy in a non-obvious way. Well done Cronenberg, you've done it again! (Sadly there were no extras on the disc).

Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Films Of All Time
Review: Crash is by far one of the best films of all time and it is one of my personel favorit films. The DVD is good but there is hardly know goodies just good picture and sound. thats all I care about is good picture and sound quality. But I do wish they had a behind the scens look of the movie. This film is by far not for everybody it is wall to wall sex through out the whole movie and it is all extremely graphic. And thats not even including the violence and that is also extremely bad this film by far is the most controversail film of all time. WARNING: This film is rated NC-17 and contans extremely graphic prolonged sex sequences and extremely graphic violence.

Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Films Of All Time
Review: Crash is by far one of the best films of all time and it is one of my personel favorit films. The DVD is good but there is hardly know goodies just good picture and sound. But I do wish they had a behind the scens look of the movie. This film is by far not for everybody it is wall to wall sex through out the whole movie and it is all extremely graphic. Thats not even including the violence and that is also extremely bad this film by far is the most controversail film of all time. WARNING: This film is rated NC-17 and contans extremely graphic prolonged sex sequences and extremely graphic violence. This film is for ADULTS ONLY.

Rating:
Summary: CRASH hits you head on.
Review: Before seeing this movie i had heard how repelling, shocking, controversial, etc. this movie was. When i finally saw it i could understand why some people might be shocked but personally i could take it just fine but you also have to consider that i saw the R rated version. I have yet to see the NC-17 version. The movie is adapted from J.G Ballard's novel and it concerns a group of people who share a car crash fetish. Seeing or being in a car crash gets them sexually aroused and they have sex with one another. They often switch partners with strange results. Some of the sexual parts might disgust some people but it won't if you have an open mind. James Spader does a competent enough job but the real stand outs are Elias Koteas as the leader of the group, as well as Holly Hunter and Deborah Unger. The movie is never quite as involving as it should be because it retains a feeling of emotional detachment. It would have been more interesting if the psychology of the characters had been explored. But there are many interesting scenes involving cars and sex. The movie is directed pretty well in terms of that by David Cronenberg. But it ceases to be as interesting when there are no scenes having to do with cars and sex which is actually pretty rare. Keep in mind this movie is only for people who are willing to keep an open mind. If not, i suggest you to stay away.

Rating:
Summary: Ignore the critics
Review: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1997)

Once again, the detractors feel free to dismiss a Cronenberg film as gratuitous and one-dimensional-- especially since it garnered an NC-17 rating. The description I heard every time the film was mentioned covers about five minutes of actual screen time and completely ignores the complexity of the characetrs involved. Cronenberg comes up with another winner-- excellent script, good pacing, and the kind of cast most hollywood-blockbuster directors dream of being able to assemble, including an (as usual) Oscar-worthy performance from Elias Koteas as Vaughan, thesociopathic leader of the band of fetishists. Definitely one worth seeing; on a par with Cronenberg's best work. ****