It is easy to question the star status of time-proven hallmark directors of the likes of Oliver Stone when they fail with wallstreet2 and natural born killers.But on the other hand they singulalrly earn their reputation one frame at a time when you watch their classics ,once such being JFK.There's little reason to believe that Stone will ever surpass what he has accomplished with JFK.
I dont care if the film is propaganda, i dont care if it distorts fact, it is undeniably a work of art. Slick editing makes the film watchable even at a tiring length of ~210 minutes.Trivia junkies might know that the film won an academy award for the same.
Kevin Costner gives a tour-De-force performance from start till the courtroom finale. Stone on the other should be admired for not making the movie to be about a lone warrior taking on the system but what it actually should be - an investigation of an assassination. The score by John Williams' is already legendary and fits the films multi-layered tapestry perfectly.
The subject matter is incredibly controversial and subjective but Stone presents it with such emotional audacity and raw power that it all seems factual. When i saw the film as a teenager i was not even close to enjoying it ,for this movie is almost an acquired taste as with all intrigue driven drama.
The hero of the story is New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner). Three years after the assassination, he could not let sleeping dogs lie. While many were convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) was the lone assassin. Garrison decided to conduct his own investigation and slowly builds a case against Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones).
To go into detail about this film's rapid narrative passages is a challenge for the most astute of film experts. But I will say this: Stone's control is beyond criticism, the film has a stunning, powerfully kinetic force that I have yet to see in any other epic. This film has the historic depth of "lawrence of arabia" or "gandhi" and manages it with the break neck pace of social network.
The rest of the cast is flooring. There are a number of cameos and small parts filmed by huge names. There's everyone from Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon to Donald Sutherland. When you watch a film that has so many excellent faces appear for brief minutes, you get the sense that the film is important. Any script that draws in that many names must be special and "JFK" is.
This movie is feverishly exciting in parts mostly due to the subconscious fear that what we see might just be true !!!.
Title card
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"To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards of men." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Verdict
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For film lovers, for history nuts, for pop culture fanatics and for conspiracy theorists, this is a must.
