Stoic

source: Stoic

I have always been a big fan of eddie furlong's so when i saw his name on the cover of this film at the video store i of course wanted to rent it, that is until i saw who had directed it now i know the very large stigma that comes with anything uwe boll directs but never the less i rented it anyway hoping that perhaps it would not be the same as some of his other films i have seen. Wow. just wow, i don't really know how to explain my feelings on this film. Firstly i would like to say that this is in no means what so ever a bad film it is in fact the opposite, it blew me away. I was incredibly surprised at how quickly it had drawn me in, the acting was impeccable and the story absolutely heartbreaking. Certain scenes had me sitting in front of my television mouth agape with tears in my eyes which is very unexpected from a Uwe Boll film. I am absolutely serious when i say watch this film, it will make up for a lot of the disappointments that came from his previous works. This movie says a lot about the human condition and the things we will do to save our own asses.

In my opinion this movie deserves a much higher rating then it has received. The acting is phenomenal, the directing is above par to most of Boll's movies and it is overall a good movie. But, to me it was a little too much. I've had my fair share in movies but this was a cut above the rest. Very graphic, very realistic and overall I found it very hard to watch. How the 3 prisoners beat, rape, degrade and humiliate one of the other fellow inmates to the point where they fake his suicide is very unsettling and believable. The ending is also very upsetting. One of Uwe Boll's best movies to date as well as Rampage. Great performances. I wouldn't recommend this movie due to its graphic content but it is a very good movie that deserves a higher rating then 4.7/10.

You know for a while into the film I was re-examining my own behavior towards "easy targets" when locked up, as it is a habit to "bid" off of other people's misery in whatever way possible for amusement when stuck in such a dire environment. Whether you're the perpetrator or just having fun watching the "kid's play" for lack of a better term, it's a part of ANY prison system and in some cases I'd like to think I'm responsible for at least one person never going back, BUT obviously what happened in this prison just does not happen in 99.99% of cases. In a larger group dynamic this situation wouldn't even be possible, you could get beaten up, raped & shanked but not this type of situation, you need to have the perfect storm of personality traits for this. The people in this cell were just the right/wrong mix with the wrong string of events. Some people have mentioned being shocked that this was a juvenile facility when in truth this bizarre event could likely only have transpired in an environment housing young offenders. Furlong plays the all around amoral scumbag(himself in a nutshell)who is mixed with the violent skinhead(Mennekes). Combine them with the kid Peter(Levinson) who was really just happy having someone below him on the totem pole to keep the bidding off of him, innocently aggravates the already poor situation for Mitch the cell bitch(Sipos). When the skinhead Jack ratchets things up to an insane level, the scumbag Harry, unaffected at the level that the skinhead has went to, gives Mitch the broomstick treatment, why? For the hell of it, in his mind, why not was likely the only reason for his motivation. Suddenly, the stakes are raised well above Peter's comfort area, so he, out of an act of pure self preservation tries his damnedest to work with what little handle he had on the situation(which was slightly less than zero). Out of desperation he throws out the hanging theory, in his mind it was either appease his cellies or it would be him on the other end of the broomstick or worse, he's just witnessed what they were capable of. If that was as accurate of a portrayal as I've heard then I actually have some sympathy for him, it appears he was put in a situation far beyond his control. In the end I think they were all sentenced very properly. So many times when someone is killed and there are multiple defendants they charge everyone as equals & even often try them as one. In this case it could have easily went that way, but instead they did happen to show some leniency on Peter for his case. I know I failed to mention the writer/director. Being based on a factual account, I felt the manner in which it was filmed worked very well, going without scripts for much of it. It's not a very satisfying watch, there is very little entertainment value to be had in a telling of this tale regardless of who directs it. I usually don't review old films but after hitting Boll's latest Assault on Wall Street(2013) and getting pleasantly surprised I cracked open the Boll vault & had me a second look. I had COMPLETELY written him off after seeing a few really unsavory early films of his and I'm glad I took a look after seeing Rampage, Seed, Postal, Darfur and now Stoic. When adding his latest flick Assault on Wall Street it actually makes for a decent looking six pack. Who knew? A month ago I would have called him an irredeemable hack. I know, I know, put a batting helmet on a blind person and you're bound to make contact with the ball a few times.

Perhaps with childish naivety, I used to believe that Uwe Boll's trademark reputation is actually an effect of a very conscious manipulation. I hoped that one day he would emerge, like a stunning butterfly, from a cocoon of abysmal effort that did nothing but ruined countless video game franchises for their fans across the globe. Stoic and following it Rampage and Darfur (all three made in 2009) were to change prevailing opinion about Boll's lack of talent and test his skill in a more serious context. The first of them- a gritty prison drama, is far from the lows set by i.e. Alone in the Dark (2005) but is it sufficiently competent to redeem Boll? Supposedly based on facts- but in fact difficult to verify, Stoic is restricted to the space of one cell and a tragedy that plays out within it, between four cell-mates. Film is divided into interviews with three of them in the aftermath of their cell-mate's suicide death and footage that leads to this incident. Both unfold together, slowly revealing the true nature of the tragedy and each prisoner's role in it. Although structure allows for interesting escalation of both guilt and violence it is in no way reminiscent of Rashomon (1950) and Boll remains objective as to what we see leaving no questions about intentions of the violators. Extended from merely a treatment, film is filled with improvised rant that fails to capture the true essence of this story. All three aggressors come across unnaturally and their solid performances are wasted on an aimless direction that resorts to their monologue every time the narrative runs out of steam. In the end 80 minutes long feature is carried forward by several acts of brutality that turn to be disturbingly engrossing beats sustaining the collapsing tension. Stoic aims to be gritty and realist but lacks focus and talent to achieve these qualities. What materialises on the screen is a bore- repetitive and at times moronic dialogue and an apparent agenda that packs a punch but misses its target by miles. It fails to shock because it lacks any competently realised context for its content. Verdict: It's better than any of the countless video-game adaptations that Boll unleashed in his fury upon the world. But even still it is stagy, amateurish film-making that makes a point by showing brutal, animalistic behaviour but lacks either will or talent to turn it into anything relevant. There is simply no reward in enduring the violence for its sake and no interesting insight into why it was committed, beyond the obvious capacity for it that we all share. We come already equipped in that knowledge, Stoic does nothing that we wouldn't already know.

Just like Stanley Kubrick is very, very overrated, Uwe Boll is way underrated. Some people even dare to compare him with Ed Wood, when he was way more talented than hacks as Kubrick. I hate video-games, I never played video-games, but I always found the movies of Uwe Boll beautiful and inspired, so I guess that his movies are way better than the games in which they are inspired. "Alone in the Dark" was a very suspenseful and stylish film. Also, it was scary, not like trash as "Cannibal Holocaust" or "The Shining". "BloodRayne" was dark, stylish and sexy. "In the Name of the king" was simply epic: Even when I have to admit that "The Lord of the Rings" films were good, I have to say that I liked this film more. "Postal" was hilarious and satirical: The satire and the humor were way more accurate than "Doctor Strangelove". Also it was funnier. "Stoic" was shocking and heartbreaking, much more than "A Clockwork Orange". "1968 Tunnel Rats" was a better war film than "Full Metal Jacket". As you see, Uwe Boll is way more talented than Kubrick. I just can't understand why there is so much hate against his films, he is one of the most talented filmmakers of our time.

I don't really get all the Uwe Boll bashers out there. I don't watch his video game films because, quite frankly, I think if you want to have a video game experience you should PLAY a video game. Call me crazy. I watched "Stoic" because I loved "Rampage"---I loved the originality of it, I admired it's clarity of vision, and I liked the outlandishness of the piece. Boll's "I-don't-give-a-f***" attitude definitely did show through in that hyper-violent * and it does so again with "Stoic." What's odd about "Stoic" is that it would almost play better as a stage production. It's based on a real event that occurred in a German prison, where a harmless dare escalated into deadly consequence. It's really pretty simple, as Sam Levinson states in the preamble: "This system doesn't work!" And why should it? You put four guys in one small room, with varying degrees of maladaptive personalities, subject them to endless tedium and little activity---what do you think would happen? There is a reason why most US prisons don't do four-to-a-cell, after all. The acting is very good for the most part (Levinson gets a bit melodramatic, but it's passable). Furlong is creepily chilling in his passive-aggressiveness. It's not the type of movie that generates a lot of tension (probably why few people like it). It does generate DREAD however and it isn't pleasant to watch even in a sicko-torture-* type of way...there are no "oh wow" EFX...it's just...degrading. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to my parents? Hell no. Yet, I find myself giving it a relatively high-score. For those interested in how group dynamics tend to obliterate the ability or desire to think for one's self, "Stoic" is an relatively bold statement. One wonders if Boll was thinking of his rubber-stamping detractors when he made it.

After a game of poker takes a turn for the dark side, three inmates find themselves trying to cover up the brutal beating and torture of the fourth inmate in their cell. Stoic, starring Edward Furlong, Shaun Sipos, Sam Levinson, and Steffen Mennekes leads you through the horrible acts, using flashbacks and interview style Q&A with the inmates involved. Stoic is also based on the true story of an inmate from a German juvenile detention center, who was brutalized by fellow cellies. I had huge doubts going into this movie knowing that it was directed by Uwe Boll, Who's only movies I had been exposed to before this were video game related. The fact that I happen to be a big Edward Furlong fan caused me to give this flick a try. After all, If I was able to sit through the third crow film, I can survive anything. This movie takes every fear a man has about going into the prison system, and rolls it up into one nonstop ride of fear, and uneasiness. The worse case scenario of jail is unfolded in front of you in a very graphic and unforgiving manor. You can really feel the tension rise to higher and higher levels as things continue to spiral further out of control with each passing minute. It's very rare a movie ever makes me truly feel sorry for a victim, because I'm always able to tell myself it's just a movie, it's all in good fun. Stoic does a really impressive job at making you feel for the young man being tortured for no real reason at all. Now, the things that bothered me about this film, first of all, when in prison, guards check on cells on a pretty frequent time frame, it seemed like a lot of time passed in this movie with no guard in site, beyond when they got food. Of course, that can be overlooked, but there is one scene in the film which I won't spoil just for the sake that some of you may go watch this after reading this, but let's just say huge shenanigans called on the red button incident with no one double checking on the claim made. With that said I'm shocked, and kind of disturbed to say I enjoyed an Uwe boll movie, and not just because Edward furlong was involved. I was very impressed with the raw, and realistic nature of the film for the most part, and also its ability to make you feel something. I recommend you give it a watch, especially you Netflix users out there, as it is currently viewable via instaqueue. 7/10 - Ritualistic The Liberal Dead http://liberaldead.blogspot.com

Let me start off by saying this is the lowest rating I have ever given a movie. Thats just how bad it is. To begin with, it's not a film. More like mindless snuff and torture * elements that will make you puke. This doesn't qualify as a film. It simply is something you make for fun, or just to show how ignorant you are. What a cruel, and distasteful film. With bad acting and directing from, god help us, Uwe Boll. Uwe Boll has been criticized for the worst director of all time. In which is a dubious honor, but must be awarded, like all, in opinion. I have to say anyone who thinks Boll's directing or overall work is great needs to watch this trash. Its a cold and heartless "movie" that is just the worst you can expect from anybody. Even Uwe Boll. The film is supposedly a non-fiction tale about four cellmates who get into a heated poker game which results in the quiet cellmate not living up to his bet of eating an entire tube of toothpaste if he looses the hand. He is brutally beaten and forced the toothpaste down his throat. That is only the icing on the abuse cake. He is rapes, beaten, mutilated, and left for dead in most cases. What kind of film is this? A crappy, low class mess that should've been scrapped when the idea was pitched. I honestly had to blink twice to see that Edward Furlong. Funny man from Detroit Rock City is in this crap. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. Maybe those drug problems gave him some bad karma. Who knows. Stoic is one of the few Uwe Boll films that is not based off a video game of the same name or concept. If this was a video game I couldn't expect it being banned seeing the movie wasn't. Althoug, I don't think the goal of raping and mutilating a man for no good reason is a great concept for a film. My uncle warned me about this film, but since I'm an idiot, I must see or have the "forbidden fruit". If he said this movie caused Cancer I would have watched it. I'm sorry to say this, and would hate to again. He was right. The film sucked. An easy candidate for the worst film of 2009, and a possible candidate for the top five worst films ever. Starring: Edward Furlong, Shaun Sipos, Sam Levinson, and Steffen Mennekes. Directed by: Uwe Boll.

Let me first say I didn't rent this movie, one of my co-workers did. We work nights and he put the movie on, so I couldn't leave work to avoid this atrocity! I didn't watch the entire movie, but heard it all. This movie actually ended up creating a long debate (which we all agree was the point of the movie). I felt that this movie had merit with the story, and agree that it needed to be told, but the imagery was nothing more than shock and gore factor (I agree with other reviews that it borders on sadistic *). In my option, a good director should be able to get a point across about how horrific something is, without having to resort to horrific images. The movie ended with some redeeming points, but over all this movie made me wonder what's wrong with human beings (both the criminals who originally committed the crimes, and the people involved in making this movie).