bonafide_hippie Review of Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

An Overrated Borefest

[3/10 · 15 July 2005]

I've heard about Lawrence of Arabia for years, but not really knowing what it was about. One day, while I was on the internet, I came across information about the film. I've learned that it won best picture in 1962; I've learned about how it influenced filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg; and I learned about how it adapted the memoirs of T.E. Lawrence and made them into a feature length film. This interested me so much that I decided to head down to blockbuster and rent it. Now that I've watched it, what do I think of it? Well, to be honest, I thought it was just plain out boring. The problem I had with this movie is that not once I cared about Lawrence or his conflict. I did not see any depth in his character and I did not for once care for what he was fighting for. To me, this felt more like a boring history lecture than an actual film. There is a plot in this movie, but it doesn't really surface in an interesting way and the viewing of this film just becomes tedious.

I do admit that this film was very well made, but it's only icing covering a bland, tasteless cake. There are some good scenes in this film, but why couldn't the filmmakers make Lawrence or his conflict more interesting. At least in Seven Samurai, the conflict was simple enough and the characters were well developed to keep me interested, but Lawrence doesn't have that.

I can't recommend the film, but I know other film buffs will want to see it. If you want to see, by all means go ahead. I hope you enjoy it. I sure know I didn't.