Review of The Deer Hunter (1978) by Cameron J — 23 Jul 2011

Man, I'm gonna need to look over my memory. I can't figure out if I was gone a day-and-a-half because I was on break or because it took me a day-and-a-half to watch this. Well, the runtime says 3 hours, so I'm gonna have to say that I was on break and was mentally numb after this, not just because it's freakishly long, but because it's a truly effective, deeply impacting study on the horrors of war. It's mostly the bordedom, I assure you. Of course, that's not the film's only flaw. Other marks against the film include a lack of development, noisyness, abrupt events, disturbances and some inconsistencies. Still, it all falls back to the film's dullness, which is formed from extremely overdrawn points and an underwhelming aura. The film kicks into high gear on plenty of occasions, but the dullness remains all too present.

Now, I've really come down on the film's dullness, but the truth is that while the film is rarely without a dull moment, it stays at a mostly fair pace. True, there are points where a scene's length is palpable, seeing as it's near-impossible to keep a mostly dull 3 hour film constantly running smoothly. However, for the most part, the dullness comes and goes and is kept from being too tedious. Of course, the pacing isn't the only thing that keeps the film going, as there are other strengths, such as a fine score, decent action sequences, a decent soundtrack and good production designs. You know that we also have to give credit to the tensity. The Russian Roulette element is rightfully iconic, as it's not only consistently chilling and tense, but serves as a subtle reflection of the differences and flaws in humanity. For this and many more compelling elements, we have to give major credit to the solid performances.

Overall, "The Deer Hunter" is far from the most thrilling experience, but with many strong elements carried by the fine performers, the film ultimately stands as a generally compelling and fascinating study on the horrors of war and how severly it can affect any average man after he's left the battlefield.