Slumdog Millionaire

[sahyder1]

This thread is part of the "EWB goes to the Movies" project. Please create future movie threads once the movie is out using the same poll that is attached to this thread. Thank You. Obviously it would help a lot if people posted reviews rather then just voting in the attached poll.

Good movie....really well done. Anyone who knows me understands that despite being from South Asia I despise Indian movies so wasn't sure if I was going to watch it when it first started gaining popularity. I was convinced by a friend a couple of months ago but just got around to watching it today. For such a low budge movie it is amazing how much it will end up raking in.

I loved how they incorporated each question on the show to his real life experiences. It is a pretty accurate portrayal of the real life struggles of impoverished in a developing society. On one hand while you have the developing power that is shown in the movie you still have some of the worst living conditions imaginable. A really good job out of Dev Patel who I'm sure will end up getting a few roles out of this as will Freida Pinto (Latika). In a world far too occupied with people who care about money here is a poor man who's on the show for anything but money. Nice little touch throwing Amitabh Bachchan in it as he was the original host of the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I'll probably have more to say on this later but yeah....great story and really well done.

[Thatz]

I'd give it around a 9/10. I really liked it, and I can't really find any major flaws. The acting wasn't incredible but it was pretty good, and I really liked the technical aspects of the film. The music was very fitting, and the cinematography was quite beautiful. Everything was edited together well too, with all of the questions flashing back to the answers in Jamal's life. Technically it was a very strong film, and since everything else was at least decent/good it deserves a high rating.

However, I recommended it as a rental. It's not really a film for everyone. If you're not at all interested in the technical (or artistic) aspects of film then it'll probably still be an enjoyable movie, you just might not appreciate it as much as the critics do. Rent it first, just to make sure.

[RPS]

Rating: 9

Length: Just right.

Recommendation: Buy.

Exactely after I saw this movie, I was driving somewhere in a car with a group of people. We were talking about something meaningless and at one point a girl in the car turned to me and said "how can you sit there and say that after we just saw what those two children grew up in?"

I felt this was perhaps the complete opposite reaction the movie was trying to inspire. Boyle purposefully didn't want us to pity the boys, those who are poor or India. Boyle simply wanted to give us a look at a country that is emerging in the global community. Boyle didn't want us to sit back and say "oh, those people in India. How poor and awful a life they live." Boyle wasn't sending out a PSA and shoving it down our throats (looking at you Brokeback Mountain and Crash). I thought that knee-jerk reaction of "how could they live in that world?" was going against the entire idea of the movie.

Maybe it was just me, I just felt like there was something more substantive than "oh pity these impoverished people" but I felt that a lot of people just echoed that reaction.

Edited March 4, 2009 by PunkRockPete

[Liam]

I gave it an 8 out of 10, but I'm the only one thus far who thinks it was a little too long. Once it broke from the uniquely original opening and middle, it started to drag when it became a bit more of a simple 'will they/won't they?' romance story towards the end. Only 15 or so minutes shorter for me, and it would have nailed it.

[YI]

Saw this last night, great film, although I do agree that it dragged a bit and I started to lose attention. I honestly don't get how people can say it's the "Feel good movie of the year!" for me, Feel Good is like losing a pound and finding a tenner. This was kind of like, losing a pound, twisting your ankle and being hit by a bus, but don't worry, your corpse has been knocked onto a ten pound note...well maybe not that over the top, but still...well put together film and all that, some moments that really make you smile. I liked it, not sure if I'd watch it that much, purely because I don't really watch many films outside of comedies.

[Captain Kirk]

I can't believe The Dark Knight has a better rating than this.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I can. If TDK had been maybe half an hour shorter, it would have been far better than Slumdog. As it is, it's still close.