War Horse

At times a colorful children's book, at times the hell of war, and at times an odyssey. Steven Spielberg, with somewhat of a sure bet, knows how to surprise you, and although the thoroughness or interconnectedness of the individual episodes sometimes stumbled heavily, I still have to nod approvingly despite my slight reservations. Considering how grandiose and, unfortunately, slightly prolonged the film War Horse feels as a result, it probably couldn't have been aimed more precisely. There are too many characters and moods here, and the plot either needed to be shortened by a third or stretched by an hour. The positive resonance resounds the loudest thanks to John Williams' amazing main theme and a few touching moments, against which there can be no defense. (02/25/2012)

A film about love, goodness and horses, in which the Great War also looks many times more pathetic and moralistic than in all of the anti-war pamphlets of the 1920s and 1930s. Paradoxically, this is not a problem at all - the main drawback of this captivating spectacle is Spielberg's absolute fondness for the surface. Everything inner and psychological disappears from the shots - everything is taken over by a rich visual arrangement. People and horses are explicitly props in the creator's professorial exhibition. Moments of emotion always and again come across the same thing - it's not the human (horse) story that impresses us, it's rather the respectable audiovisual construction, under which (unlike Steven's famous films) there is nothing at all, just a genre vacuum. This is simply not enough for a fairy tale, which War Horse is more than anything else. (02/20/2012)

A nostalgic look back to the heartiest, most melodramatic stage of cinematography. Film poetry for people who remember those times, maybe the last of its kind. Had it been twenty minutes shorter, it would have been one of Steven Spielberg’s best movies. That it’s one of his most personal films can be felt from every scene. (02/25/2012)

War Horse follows in the footsteps of The Red Baron and the Flyboys. A wave of renewed interest in WW1 would be a great thing, it would just have to be based on films that aren't such failures. The memory of Düsseldorf will be more eternal and colorful than a sunset in all shades of orange. (02/23/2012)

This is a pretty special movie for me and I must say that I really enjoyed it. Spielberg filmed this in his own way and it ended up so that every scene looks like a poster. Some scenes stand out incredibly. The ride through the battlefield is the most powerful scene of the movie, thanks to John Williams’ music too. Sometimes maybe half of the good feeling from the movie comes from the somebody sitting next to you. (02/27/2012)