Review of 12 Years a Slave (2013) by Ben T — 21 Jan 2015

Going into 12 years a slave I'd heard great things and ever since it won best picture I've been wanting to see this quite badly and yeah this is a good movie but unfortunately not a great one and I don't think it's at all worthy of best picture (Wolf of Wall Street was a much better film).

One of the best things the movie has going for it is the acting. Chiwetel Ejiofor pours his heart and soul into this role and I though he was fantastic. Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch were all amazing especially Fassbender one of the best villains I've ever seen on screen.

But the scene stealer was Lupita Nyongo she was amazing and 100% deserved her oscar win, she almost brought me to tears she was so good. The best and most emotional scene was the most disturbing scene which involved Fassbender almost whipping Nyongo to death and it's the one scene from the film that's stuck with me.

The ending also was heartbreaking, with Ejiofor bringing the audience to tears. Steve McQueen directs this film very well but I think movies like Django Unchained are the movies that will still be talking about in years to come.

Due to the way it tackled slavery. Which brings me to my biggest problem which is that the film is very forgettable. Not a lot of the film has stuck with me and I think it's incredibly overrated. The pacing was also a huge problem, this film was unfortunately quite boring.

It's very slow and felt around 3 hours. The acting was good but the rest of the film was only decent, except for the score that was great. Overall 12 years a slave is a decent movie but not a great or very lasting one.

B+.