A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Directed By: Richard Attenborough
31 Mar 2022
I listened to the audiobook a few years. It was odd how close the movie stuck to the book, it seems like that is a rare thing nowadays. The movie is quite enjoyable though it does have a few flaws.
First, lets address the effects. The visual effects are incredible. The fact that when you see showers of dirt and tree limbs splintering from artillery fire, you are actually seeing real explosive detonating makes the movie feel much more gripping. CGI today is pretty good but after having watched this movie, modern movie explosions seem… stylized? The modern effects look great and are rendered well but they still look like movie explosions. Where the effects let me down a bit is in the audio department. The old fashioned dubbed over audio with poor synchronization and lame Foley sound effects felt so out of place. The guns and screams were seriously like cartoon level sound effects. The one good audio exception was artillery, both the impacts and the sound of shells passing overhead.
My only other real complaint was that the movie was so vast in scope that none of the particular sub-plots or stories got sufficient attention. This despite the fact that the movie was three hours long.