Serviceable epic that never blew me away.

525

I had never heard about this John Reed guy, nor about the events the film was based on, and so the whole political and historical aspect was completely lost on me, and I didn't really care about it anyway. The first half was pretty dull because of this, and then I became interested in the personal lives of the characters which made it watchable - though I still found them to be annoying people.

This film starts weak, then gets better, and toward the end the film gets really good. Be patient and you will be rewarded with this one. I learned a lot, and also enjoyed Beatty's and Keaton's remarkable performances.

If It wasn't for that completely unbearable first hour I'd give this movie a much better rating. Seriously skip to when they go to Russian and you'd have a great film. With the first hour included, the movie makes me hate the main characters for being so unbearable. All of this is in despite of how interesting the last 2/3's of the film are.

I wish all historical romances were as good as this beautiful film.

# 478

Not the epic Beatty thinks it is, but still this is an entertaining film--in spite of its intimidating length--that evokes the bohemian left of the Ragtime era and WWI.

An intellectual bohemia that couldn't withstand the real world. The love affair parallels the politics in that sense.

The epic scope, beautiful cinematography and great screenplay alone are worth the 200 minutes to see this film. The acting, on the other hand, is merely adequate from the leading parts but excellent from the supporting turns.

I'm not sure if the character study aspect or the political exploration was most interesting but I enjoyed nearly all of it. The 1910s seems to be a period little explored in film, especially on this kind of social and political scale, so even if the construction is not particularly noteworthy it still feels fresh.

Beatty's paralyzing perfectionism has caused him to direct only two other films since winning the Oscar for Reds. It's easy to see why. It's so precisely accomplished, so elegantly constructed, so downright monumental in its artful realization that it's hard to conceive of the proper follow-up. It's a study in perfect balance: epic without being overblown, fiercely political without becoming didactic, measured and thorough without ever dragging (despite a runtime comfortably over three hours).

512

One of Keaton's best performances.

"You don't rewrite what I write!" It's more about the individual relationships and when the film realizes this, it works better. John Reed isn't a saint; he's egotistical and beholden to his beliefs.The documentary aspect is fascinating but without any indication (aside from a list of names at the beginning) of who these interviewees are, the resonance is virtually non-existent. It's a stylistic choice that could work, but it falls flat. Keaton does great work evolving Louise beyond a sterotype.

Brilliant. Moving. Historical.

The first hour of the film is ninety percent about character and relationships. Sure, everyone is talking about politics, but it all seems like an afterthought. Suffice it to say I cared most about the romance, though I did find the education interesting. It's a good film, well made, but by the end there's so much politics, when we return to the romance I hardly felt anything at all.

"Reds is finally just an appealingly conventional epic movie-star romance with radical trimmings, but it contains several sharper elements that suggest the colorful period it seeks to recreate." - Dan Callahan

I watched this in three parts. Which went something like... Part 1: This is awful. I want to remove the editor's eyes, and fix Beatty's. Part 2: Hey, it's Jack Nicholson! And a compelling, non-excruciating character. Part 3: This is engrossing. I care about these characters; I'm being entertained, I'm being educated.

Reds is boring enough to make me take four days to watch it, but good enough for me not to mind.

This film blew me away. Best biopic I have seen. I might be biased because I'm very interested in left-wing politics. But this movie is more than that. It's a love story, epic, sometimes even almost surreal. And it's a good history lesson. On technical side we have perfect direction and acting by Beatty and cinematography by Storaro, not to mention great supporting cast.

this is a tremendous epic movie, clocking in at over three hours it still is packed, with every moment worth watching. beatty and keaton are fantastic and have some great chemistry. beatty definitely deserved the oscar for this movie, hell he deserved two.

More likeable than interesting. Performances are strong, Keaton's especially. Beautiful, beautiful score.