Review: Birdman

2015 Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton

Birdman has been massively praised, hyped and even nominated for an Oscar before it's release so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
This will be a particularly difficult review to write because the the story is simple enough yet the film as a whole is very difficult to put into words. The basic premise is that Michael Keaton is a washed up actor who used to play the role of a super hero named Birdman. He now stars in Broadway shows and dreams of reaching the peak success he so briefly tasted in the past.

The good parts
Top Notch acting from Keaton and Norton, Emma Stone also did a fantastic job and it was great to see her in such a serious and tragic role.

Beautiful cinematography and really long swooping shots that made you think 'how did they do that!?'

Good message in the film, just a shame it was buried by pretentious twoddle.

Not alot else.

The bad parts
Everything that was shoved inbetween the plot. This film is so self aware and concerned with being arty and deep that it is just a chore to watch, this isn't a spoiler but a particular flying scene had me putting my head in my hands.

Irritating and irrelevant cutaways, asteroids falling to earth and other scenes try to be relavent to the events that occur in the film but just end up looking out of place.

Character development just completely abandoned for no reason. Characters that have been with us for 2 thirds of the film are left without care or explanation.

Pathetic lazy ending disguised as an interpretive scene. This type of pretentious, artsy fartsy film making is becoming a nasty trend now. There is nothing clever or skilled about an ending scene like this. Make a real film from beginning to end please.

Birdman falls flat on it's hipster face.

2/5