Elephant-A movie about a school shooting

Atleast thats what was the synopsis more or less. Now I have heard some good comments about htis movie. I thought 'Hey why not?' who doesn't love a movie that explores such issues and showing the emotions involved? I know I do.

Instead I spent a good 81 minutes watching people walk around.



Now I can imagine those who loved Elephant thinking 'Oh if he likes this kind of movie of course he doesn't appreciate the beauty of Elephant'

But I mean it was just them walking from 1 place to the next. I mean theres this one scene where the camera is just pointed straight ahead while a small group of people play football. This guy then goes infront of the camera poots on a lifeguard hoody thing and then walks towards the school. Nothing is really said here. Some music plays.

So we watch as he walks all the way back to the building. It then cuts to him walking down a hall.

It then shows him exiting the building... short cut I guess... he then walks past these 3 girls who says hes hot... at this point a minute has passed with that being the only actual dialogue(im being leniant I think) he then meets up with his girlfriend. They talk about some random stuff.

They both walk to the office and have to sign out. I think at this point it cuts to some other person walking for a bit.

That was like several minutes.

It sorta just cuts to everyone else. Some guy taking pictures of a friend. A not so good looking girl who I guess is embarrassed about her body, who you actually see walk from gym class, through a large indoor gym, then it cuts to someone else for awhile, then it shows her in the shower room. Now heres where I thought "At the very least I may see some boobs' Well no. It then shows the girl taking off her shirt, puts on a new one. I guess its suggested she takes off her pants but you mostly just see her head. And...

Then I forget what happens next. More walking I'm sure.

Oh and then theres this scene where this guy, one of the shooters, playing the piano. Hes good too. His friend knocks on the window and while we wait, why I dont know, the camera slowly pans around the room as he continues to play. We learn that its... well nothing unusual for a teen boy. Messy, a rather small bed, messy. It then finally. FINALLY pans over him who is still playing and... continues on.

It then shows the friend standing in the doorway. Who then goes to the bed picks up a laptop and starts playing this shitty shooting game that they programed. Which was just a bunch of generic people just standing around, a bit walking, and him just going up next to them shooting them.

It then pans away from him, or maybe this was after the second time around the room. We see whats his face Alex or Eric I forget still playing. Though of course you can hear it. He then gets off. Friend is reading some book. Piano Dude picks up the laptop and googles, or whatever, guns and yeah.

At this point. We have learned almost nothing about the characters. So why the hell should I give a shit about any of them? At this point I am thinking 'Thats right, go kill them'

You dont even see the fronts of the characters faces often. You spend more time seeing the backs of the heads of characters just walking then you have of dialogue.

Oh and there was this random scene where the camera pans around a cirlce of people talking about... whether or not you can spot a gay guy walking down the street.

No seriously. Go rent/download/whatever this movie. Its early on in the movie. So they talk about this for awhile. Why? because apparently one of the people is the girlfriend of the blonde guy we first see. Well I think she is. I mean she catches the guy alone sort of crying, asks if he is ok, kisses him on the cheek and... thats all there is to it.

Now the shooters buy some gun online. They test it out in the garage. Now here I was thinking 'Hell yeah. Things are about to get good'

I think we then saw some more people walking.

A great scene was where the shooters are talking about their plan. It was calm and just a matter of fact sort of way.

Now the actual shooting.

Was kinda dull and boring. What I mean is... I wanted to see these characters react. Maybe have them cowering in some janitor's closet. But the shooters actually look bored as they move through the school.

Oh and then there is Benny. Now I think Benny was deaf because all sound was distant. First time we see him actually.

Anyways. He is walking down the hall, he sees people running and tripping over themselves. He continues to walk all calm like. He sees a fire... walks right past. Now here I thought maybe he was deaf and blind. But hes not blind... just stupid. He walks past the fire, enters a room where a kid was shot(there was blood on the ground/door) Im actually surprised no one actually closed that door when the kid got shot just outside it and fell sorta into the classroom.

He then walks to the window as a girl escapes. Walks out. Moves past the fire again... I think.

Walks up to one of the shooters gets close, doesnt see the gun nor hear the conversation, and the shooter turns around kills him and then...

I just kept thinking. What the fuck dude? Hell with or without a school shooting going on, I would have been a bit panicked seeing people run. I would have also gotten out of the building if I saw a fucking fire going on.

Hmm...

There was one great scene though. Amazing.

Earlier in the film the lifeguard guy and the girlfriend are about to leave the school because for something. We learn that the girl has some appointment and has some appointment(I dunno I guess it might have implied she might be pregnant? Might not be? They talk very very briefly 'Is it because of what happened X weeks ago while camping' or some shit like that. I dunno. If I had known such dialogue would be rare, I would have paid better attention.

Anyways when they hear the shooting and screaming they... not sure what they do. But eventually they see one of the shooters coming and they run.

Of course we then see the shooter walking to where the bf/gf were just standing he looks around. Finds his way to the cafeteria, sits down takes a drink. Shoots his friend and other shooter. Somehow works his way through the kitchen area to find the bf/gf cowering in fear in the meat locker.

Dude I had no idea schools actually had meat lockers. I shit you not. There were actual carcasses of some dead animal hanging there.

Now of course my first thought was 'Seriously? Were the doors leading out of the school from the kitchen locked? Hell why didnt they just turn around, go back towards the Office AND GET THE FUCK OUT. Hell they had the time. Why not SMASH THE DAMNED CATERIA WINDOWS AND GET THE FUCK OUT. They know shits happening and what do they do? They dont get the fuck out.

Now if you can supress the horribleness of how they actually ended up there and not outside.

Theres a great tense scene. The shooter finds them and starts doing eeny meeny miny mo between the boyfriend and girlfriend. The camera pulls away and you slowly the shooter is hidden by some boxes all the while saying this stupid childrens rhyme thing....

It was the best scene in the whole movie. You never hear the shots, but its assumed. yup. there dead.

Oh and aside from walking. You also get several long shots of the sky. One seemed to have a point where a storm was coming and the sky was getting darker. The others... eh. Well the last one and maybe only third, was just before the credits rolled.


But yeah.

Horrible horrible movie. I just ew.

Now was it realistic? Aside from the stupidity of some of the characters... and I guess maybe because it was supposed to take place in a time not so familiar with school shootings or whatever. So who knows maybe it was justified... then again everyone else seemed to know that they should get out.

Now the point of the movie was to depict the average boring day of teen life on a day of a school shooting. Did they succeed in that? Well yeah. I mean most of my school days were rather boring. Just walking from one class to the next.

However.

Being too realistic is just boring in this case.

I wanted to know about these characters. I mean you get small small glimpses into most of the characters lives but it wasnt enough.

Now knowing there was a school shooting going to happen and getting to know about these characters, get to like them and maybe love them would have made this film really tense. Who is going to get shot? Are they going to make it? Are they going to die? Will it be in the library with a lead pipe? Well I guess in this case a shotgun or pistol?

But no. I knew a school shooting was going to happen and I just didnt care. Except for three characters. One of which wasnt in any danger at all. And the two I did were the ones in the meat locker...

but still.

Yeah. OK I am done. If you read this feel free to watch the movie and point out how wrong I am.