Rating: 
Summary: A WASTE OF TIME
Review: This movie was a joke, a waste of 80 min. of my life. It was SO SLOW. Basically, it's the same few kids walking up and down halls with minimal action, until the end. Hmmm...interesting how it's a school day and only a handful of kids are to be seen in school. Unrealistic & stupid, it's a waste of time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: Honest, Daring & Bold
Review: Elephant is one of the few films that really captures the audience from it's mysterious story, patient filmmaking and it's honest acting.A day in the life of 10 students in an unknown high school, where their events intertwine throughout the day, but in that day, their lives will take a turn for the worst as random shootings occur within the school. A Winner of the Palme D'Or Best Film and Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Gus Van Sant is one of the few directors who takes an extreme amount of time to place the audience right into the action. I have seen his other film 'Gerry' (which I surprisingly liked) and this one is very similar to that as there are heavy amounts of small talk and long slow steadycam shots. I really like Van Sant; his vision is Amazing and his concepts which at first might seem crazy, but, in the end they really do work. The detail that went on to putting this film together is Outstanding. Anyone who is interested in the fimmaking process (such as I) should go out and watch this movie right away. The precision timing of each individual story as it blends into the other stories are Excellent! (you'll see what I mean) and they are all done in one long continous shot! I also need to talk about the actors, all of them are great in this film. Van Sant held an open audition to actors and non-actors and he casted them perfectly, as they are all high school students with some training in the field of acting and ALL of them were great in it, because who better to play high school students than high school students themselves. This is a truly honest film. I'm a high school student myself (A Senior) and this film is pretty tame in presenting what teens go through in high school, but it's still just as strong in trying to convey the message. Not only does this film focous on school violence but it also shows issues ranging from family problems, to anorexia up to homosexuality. Even though Van Sant doesn't really dive into the issues and explain why these teens are like this, well it's because most teenagers don't really want to talk about it. Which is why he's sheding a light on these issue to make not only teenagers aware but also parents as well. Elephant is an HBOfilm that was shown in limited theatres, but now it's on DVD. Though the extras are extremely slim, it's still a great film to watch and learn from.
Rating: 
Summary: Corny, generic, and campy
Review: Corny. "Corny" best describes Gus Van Sant's attempt to "filmography" the school shooting phenomenon of the last decade. Van Sant struggles to bring to film the experiences he had reading newspaper reviews on Columbine. Van Sant tries to make artistic the sensationalism of the news stories that gripped the nation. Van Sant relies on nothing REAL. He thinks that all disturbed kids play violent video games and have an inner torture that makes them the victim of high school cruelty and virtuousos on the piano. The antagonists dream of plots of revenge against all members of the student body while pondering the beauty of Beethoven's fur elise. Meanwhile, Van Sant tries to give the impression of rawness to his movie by "daring" camera angles that follow a student for ten minutes as he walks aimlessly through the halls. Frankly, Van Sant fails in these attempts to reveal the alienation of the student or to give his movies a quality of realism. Ultimately, with Elephant, Van Sant does for high school shootings and the high school experience what after school specials did for teen pregnancy and drug use.
Rating:
Summary: boring
Review: The movie was too real. It was empty, and though it may be creepy, it was also rather boring. The movie dragged on, and some scenes were just out of place. even worse, the same boring scenes were repeated a couple of times? The only interesting part was in the showers the day they were going to die. They admit that they have never been kissed, and kiss each other. It was heartbreaking. But there should have been more scenes like that. Instead it was emptyness. SO i give it two stars.
Rating:
Summary: High School as Metaphor for Life:
Review: Elephant was a little too "real" for many tastes. I didn't enjoy the film as I watched it the first time, but thought van Sant did (as always) a terrific job presenting what he wanted to present - if not necessarily my type of movie. The film hasn't left me and the more I think about it - and rewatch it, the better it becomes.
Initially I felt the sense of ennui was a tad overdone watching the back of a student's head as he slowly moves from point A to point B - sometimes for endless minutes on end the camera will not break from that vantage point - the back of a head. The point seemed made both literally and succinctly the first time. Nonetheless, this device frees the narrative and affords van Sant opportunity to move his film in non-linear directions so the glimpse of a face unseen earlier is now viewed in full relief, a snatch of conversation previously heard comes into focus - even if briefly.
There are elements of the film that are touching and keenly observant. While van Sant has typically focused on youth for his body of work, these elements are evident in all ages but noticeably and most strongly pronounced in youth, those hormone filled, confusing years where, completely unbeknownst to us, its victims, life is pretty much going to be the same, and one can change high school for the factory, the hospital, the law firm, the insurance company or wherever you spend your days and those with whom you spend them.
As with life, some characters will stay with you, some you'd wish to know better, others (the three bulimic girlfriends) who natter on endlessly about nothing - and whose existence one forgets entirely - until the next encounter.
There is more than a little heartbreak in Elephant. Watching Alex pelted with spitballs made me cringe with remorse. There is little reason to understand why Alex, and his sort of friend Eric, are losers. There is outwardly no reason they don't fit in, something we see in everyday life: people arbitrarily shunned because as a society we simply need people to be excluded. As the boys share a shower and prepare for the shooting spree - and death - Eric's statement "I've never even kissed anyone" resounds with a loneliness that is shattering.
Had I written this review upon first watching Elephant I would've given it two stars. Seeing it again, and thinking and talking about it lots, earns it 5.
Rating:
Summary: True Realism in Film
Review: Before I write anything else about the film, I would say that don't I really care for pretentious art films which sacrifice storytelling material for the sake of the style.
However, Elephant is an outstanding film because the "walking through the hallways for thirty minutes" shots portray life as it is. Life is not like it is in movies. It is boring. I for one, believe it's chilling to see such real realism, especially with this subject matter. Most movies have quick cuts to the next scene, which speeds up the pace, but makes it less like life. Elephant actually is good storytelling because it shows a school shooting that is so believable, you might think you're watching a real one in your living room.
Some reviewers said that the film was blaming homosexuality and violent video games as the "cause" for the shootings. The key word is "cause" since in actuality the movie blames no one component of these boy's lives or society. If the movie was blaming one thing on the shooting it would not be as vague. Elephant is full of shots of High School students having random conversations, unrelated to each other. In movies with a clear message, the dialoge usually goes somewhere.
Elephant is almost a complete slice of life, which is hard for any movie to accomplish.
Rating:
Summary: Another Classic via Van Sant!!!
Review: "Elephant" is perhaps the most intensely realistic and true-to-life account of the typical American high school, to date. Basically, the film has little central plot other than following the lives of two young outcasts-turned-massacrers.
The overwhelming truth of what social ridicule and rejection does to a person--especially in a high school setting--is put, through Van Sant's camera, very boldly, but with an emotional detachment to any of the characters.
Audience becomes one with students, and come to view the behavior of modern teens as an image that simply IS, and not somthing we are meant to feel or understand. Inspired by the Columbine tragedy, the "story," (if there is one) follows several students through thier day-to-day ho-hum lives at a generalized high school.
Several stomach-turning subjects are addressed (I won't give away the double-entente there), but are unavoidably a truth that Van Sant passionately films with a lethargy that's not rare with documentaries today.
The direction on Van Sant's part is precise, with music that emphasizes the "THE-TRUTH-IS-OUT-THERE" theme, most significantly with Beetholven's 'Moonlight Sonata,' and the acting is as real as it gets for non-actors.
Consider the fact that "Elephant" was filmed within a few months, at an actual (and functioning) high school, with actual acting-inept students, and on an almost entirely improvisational script. With this, one can see how 'real' "Elephant" honestly is.
For those who tire easily, you may fall asleep and miss the gut-wrenching finale (think Columbine, people), but on the whole, this film is a blast, uh, literally.
The only part worth picketing is the scene concerning Eric and Alex's kiss in the shower.
Van Sant's implication is not that the two were gay, but that they knew of thier upcoming suicide and hadn't ever kissed anyone prior (Yes, even I was confused.)
I give the film five stars cheifly due to it's genuine thematic elements, breathtaking camerawork, and uncompromised depiction of the high school as it should be.
Loved it, watched it again, and again, but didn't buy it,
--GIGI
Rating:
Summary: wow - what a powerful movie!
Review: This is a totaly creepy movie.... if you've only seen the trailer, the trailer is amazing at giving absolutly nothing away! I adore the realness of the movie with the cameras taking time to show what people are doing - but once you realize what the end result is, than it really gets scary.... Totaly true and realistic and it makes you never want to see this type of movie again!
Rating: 
Summary: evocative
Review: As someone who was bullied during high school worse than these two kids were i could appreciate to a greater degree the subtle unmentioned subplots going on here. There will likely never be another time in my life as chilling, horrible and painful as that experience and so for me, part of me was secretly egging the killers on. Indeed at the end i wanted him to kneecap the jock bully, blow his kneecaps off and his ears off and then leave him alive. And that is part of the theme, the two quiet victims operating in the lowest caste of high school completely reverse their situation, all the powerless they endured, the fear and humiliation they return with interest. Their anger is obtuse and indiscriminate, their need to achieve a sense of self-empowerment so great that all others must be brought down, their isolation from their peers so profound that they cannot tell who deserves it and who doesnt.
The film makes interesting characterisations, we have the nice guys ie the photography fans and we have another member of the low highschool caste - the self conscious girl with the curly black hair. The girl portrays the idea of a truly innocent victim, she is farthest from those who have bullied the killers, in killing her without thinking about it they erase any sympathy we have for their motives. The insecurity of the anxious curly haired girl is ironically matched by the three popular girls who's bulimia provides a striking match for the body-insecurity of the curly haired girl who refuses to wear shorts at PE. I agree with some peoples observations that the film is quite boring in places, i feel this works on an artistic level to some degree as drama is not reality and the film's goal is to portray the reality of school life. As our senses are undernourished so we have space to think more about what we are seeing.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: I had high expectations for this film, especially since it had behind-the-scenes names like Gus van Sant and Diane Keaton attached to it. "Elephant", however, proves that high expectations breed major disappointments.
Stylistically, the film is boring. I can appreciate cinematic minimalism, and I don't necessarily need expositional dialogue or MTV cut and paste cinematography to keep my attention. On the other hand, following the characters from behind as they each silently walk down the well-traversed halls of their high school added nothing to the content of the film. I watched much of "Elephant" on fast forward just to speed up these kids' extracurricular wanderings.
Secondly, the content of the film is miserably bleak. I've seen and appreciated many other films whose subject matter is similarly desolate ("Requiem for a Dream", "Taxi Driver", "The Sweet Hereafter"), but haven't left feeling so bankrupt afterwards. Perhaps that is the intention behind "Elephant", to portray the utter senselessness and randomness of the subject matter through an utterly senseless and random film.
The bottom line for me is that, once this movie finally ended, I couldn't get far enough away from the experience.
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