How sad is this?

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Chariots Of Fire3 And A Half Out 5Chariots Of Fire is a plot driven feature about an Olympic Event and the catastrophe and inner politics that it breeds among its characters. There is a lot of concrete material than one's mere textbook sport feature, like a genuine love story, a political input, a dramatic angle on the minority-majority conflict and the good old jealousy factor just to spicen things up. It is short on technical aspects like editing, costume design and sound department, although scores utterly on its beautiful cinematography and up beating background score. The camera work could have been a lot better if kept a bit more grounded and practical especially when a running sequence or a competition is depicted in here. The screenplay by Colin Welland is smart if not gripping, with just the right amount of fuel on both the character and plot track that drives the feature frictionless with a perfect balance throughout the course of it. Hugh Hudson; the director, has done a decent work on executing the anticipated vision with, as mentioned before, amazing cinematography on its side. The performance by the cast like Nicholas Farrell, Ian Charleson and Ben Cross is convincing but not something that leaves the audience in awe of it. Chariots Of Fire runs swiftly with an even pace, familiar format and rigid structure that is at best motivating and at worst worth exploring.

I saw this film when I was 14 when first released at the cinema and was so good, I can honestly say that it was a positive influence on my life.Chariots of Fire is a perfect blend of plot, script, actors, cinematography and music coming together to make a brilliant movie. The fact that it was based on a true story about the motivation of human beings and their reasons and desires for victory in the 1924 Paris Olympics makes the film real.The 2 main characters of Abraham and Liddle are the focal point of the story line. Abraham is Jewish in a softly anti-semitic world runs because he wants to prove to himself and to other people that he is the best, Liddle is deeply religious and wishes to win to honour the gift he was given by God.Do not expect an American style fast moving action filled plot, but if you like films that stir your emotions, make you engage with the characters and make you feel a better person at the end, this is the one for you.Well deserved Oscar.

I enjoyed this movie thoroughly, the stories of the two athletes Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddel are captivating, both having to make extreme sacrifices often at their own personal expense. The tension in the build up to the final races could be felt while watching it, particularly the 100 meters when the finalists are getting ready in the changing room. Although it was a real shame to see another Cambridge athlete Douglas Lowe who won gold in the 800 meters refused to be involved in the film. Also as a sports fan, I was disappointed that the main star of the 1924 Olympics was not even mentioned, the Phantom Finn Paavo Nurmi, who astonishingly won the 1500 and the 5000 meters within one hour of each other, setting Olympic records in both events, and Ville Ritola who also did a double of his own the steeplechase and the 10,000 meters while finishing second behind Nurmi in the 5000 meters. Bit of a mistake excluding the Flying Finns but as this movie was about British athletes, maybe that's why we only saw glimpses of them dominating their events during Eric Liddel's monologue when we see the Cambridge athletes struggling to compete. Anyway exclusions aside this movie is well worth a watch, its inspirational and it shows if your willing to work for something you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it.

This is a great depiction of a true story of Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) two British track athletes competing in the 1924 Olympic games. Harold is Jewish and Eric is Christian. As the film goes on we see Harold and Eric win their respective races as they become closer friends. Win they are put into a race together we see that the have a sense of competition towards one another but they soon realize how close they are. The film focuses on these two people mostly and their lives behind them. Eric is a soon to be missionary who is running the race because he wants to please God, and Harold is running to overcome anti-Semitism. It's a very good depiction and the acting is also quite good. I like it a lot mostly because I run cross country for my high school. I recommend it and give it 8 stars out of 10.