All Quiet on the Western Front

I was a little disappointed that it did not really follow the original story, but rather was loosely based on it with the director apparently putting his own spin on the story.

"Re-envisioning", I think they call it.

It was fun to watch, and gave a night's entertainment, but disappointing.

With the "John Boy/Walton's guy" film, one of the most terrible things to my young mind, when I was a middle-school kid in the late 70's when it came out, was the coldly impersonal way most of the main characters were killed off. No drama in the trenches, and my "younger self" was actually impacted by it.

Kat with a random shell splinter, and Paul getting complacent on the last day, with a bullet to the head when he should have darn well known better...

A good life lesson; complacency kills.

I guess, for me, it was forgettable, rather than the type of movie that inspired remembrance, and calculating care with the enemy in my own chosen career of my future. It did not do Remarque's excellent book or the previous two movies justice.

Bryan.
 
I've seen it on TV, and was rather disappointed. Never seen the earlier movies, only read the book.

The lack of a storyline made it more a collection of loosely connected scenes than a movie, the intermittent shots of nature between scenes were artistic at best, but rather detracting from the movie experience. Including negotiations about the armistice and the final attack by some lunatic commander right before the armistice deviate a lot from the book, and also missed the point of the title of Remarque's book.

And to top it off, some of the scenes seemed like they were performed on a theatre stage, like the imo unrealistic scene that includes the attack with the French flame-throwers, or when they were in camp in pristine surroundings with nobody else around, imo again unrealistic with millions of soldiers at/near the front line.

Finally, the incorrect spade carriers (closer to WW II type with full leather back) annoyed me a lot, but that's due to my idiosyncrasy when it comes to German equipment, I can't fault the movie for that :)

Regards,
Lars
 
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