After the “Marley and Me” incident, I thought I’d learned my lesson from animal movies, which was: stay the hell away from them. I’ve never really considered myself a person who would curl up into a ball on the floor and whimper, “It’s just a movie, it’s just a movie,” because of an animal. Evidently, I was wrong.
Though “War Horse” (which is based on a play that’s based on a book) wasn’t nearly as devastating as the aforementioned dog flick, it was just as tear-inducing. I’m not usually a fan of war movies, but I’m glad I risked it this time around. The direction was, as expected of Spielberg, brilliant, and the cinematography couldn’t have been better. I swear, this guy’s gotta run out of genius soon, or the world really will explode this year.
The movie is made up of a cast of, in my opinion, the best of the British acting community. Fans of “Thor” will be excited to know that Tom Hiddleston (who played the god of mischief, Loki) was magic as Captain Nicholls, and almost made me forget what a steaming pile of trash “Thor” was. Fans of the BBC show, “Sherlock,” ought to be happy to know that Benedict Cumberbatch (who played the title character), though his role was small, did a fantastic job as Major Jaime Stewart. These men, and the countless others who used their talent to make this movie great, were probably the main reason I manned up and sat through this cinematic masterpiece.
The horses’ performances are almost as impressive as the performances from the human actors. But “War Horse” succeeds in how Spielberg effortlessly (and with an echoing evil laugh, I imagine) takes your heart in his hands and rips it into itty bitty pieces. Also, since this is a family picture, there’s no blood and very little actual battle, but the horrors of the Great Wars were still very clear, no matter how subtle Spielberg was with them. The movie took something so terrible and nightmarish in regards to the World War and turned it into something universally understandable, because the movie was shot from the horse’s point of view.
I don’t want to go into it any further, to avoid spoilers and because I absolutely insist that you see this movie. Ignore the fact that it was robbed at the Golden Globes and just please, please see this movie. The soundtrack alone is worth the $8, but that’s if you’re as big of a music nerd as I am. If not, I strongly recommend you see it for the fantastic performances (both biped and quadrupeds), the perfect direction, and the timeless story of a horse and his boy.
