The Best !

OK movie - might be better if you really like running. Like, a lot.

Classic movie (and score) but boring as hell.

An excellent example of the 'inspirational film' whose goal isn't really to inspire but to give the emotional satisfaction of inspiration. It's not great cinema but the editing, music and story elements are combined perfectly to move the audience and make you cheer. I feel a bit dirty for enjoying it but I did nonetheless.

Admit it, the music starts up in your head the second you read the title, right?

Emtertaining film with a great deal of British heritage nostalgia. Ye gode ould tymes... I, however, don't think that the score done by Vangelis contributes much to the film, quite the contrary.

A thrilling, poignant drama. Occasionally heavy-handed in the use of slow motion and the reliance upon speech-making dialogue, but otherwise engrossing, impressively acted, and impeccably costumed and designed to convey the sense of the period.

Ironically, for a movie about running, it's pretty slow. Running is one of my hobbies, so I was really interested in this one. The biggest problem for me is that the main characters weren't interesting at all. The scenes in which they actually run are the best parts of the movie, mainly because of the music by Vangelis. Not a bad film, but I can't say it's good either.

A pretty good film with no exceptional features, and thus unworthy, as so many are, of its Best Picture statue.

That widely recognised title theme is just one of the many pieces of pure cheese the film's soundtrack has in store, a soundtrack so intrusive, annoying and inappropriate that it could almost single handedly ruin the movie if it wanted - it's hard to believe Vangelis would compose the great Blade Runner soundtrack just a year later. There isn't a whole lot to ruin though, just a fairly dull, standard film with zero dramatic tension even in the film's climax and a grating sentimentality.

If slow-motion running is your thing, Chariots of Fire is your movie. The score is really enjoyable in a strange way.