Papillon

Papillon was produced with consummate technical skill and offers brilliant acting by McQueen and Hoffman.

Shaffner has really made an exhilarating movie out of the most dangerously depressing material. [10 Jan 1974, p.56]

Audiences whose expectations do not exceed their grasp will find it a much more comfortable vehicle for escape than any that McQueen & Co. discover on location.

A methodical, pointlessly grueling movie.

With Schaffner unable to find the necessary perspective to prevent the film from becoming unevenly episodic, it ends up looking as if it were tacked together by at least three different directors.

An expensive, exhaustive, 150-mintue odyssey that doesn’t so much conclude as cross the finish line and collapse. It has been outfitted with expensive stars and a glossy production, but it doesn’t really make us care.

No sense of complicity between filmmaker and spectator, no depth, no ambiguity, no production value spared, plenty of running time and pomposity, and a desperate sense of trying to do everything and please everybody.

Enorm dramatische Wendungen machen dieses Action-Drama schwer nachdenklich.

Much better sounding on paper than it is to sit down and actually watch, "Papillon" honestly wears that fact proudly, as its insistence to test the viewer's patience is kind of the point of the whole film. This is a glum, grueling and at times infuriating look into a harrowing way of life. Putting yourself in the place of anyone in this film is a kind of moral conundrum you never want to spend more than a few minutes feeling your way through. Steve McQueen -- as per usual -- is as watchable as they come, but what really surprised me was just how much he has to exhibit in this. McQueen, is and always will be, the epitome of cool, but "Papillon" shows you facets of his acting tool belt that you don't see as much of in other films. Seeing him as desperate and even as deranged as his character becomes at points in this film is really both humbling and impressive at once. He was most assuredly robbed of an Academy Award nomination here. As for the rest of the film, it gets the job done, sometimes fluctuating between being an arduous and meaningful watch. The ending, though, helps render the journey worthy of a viewing. It is a tad too long for my tastes, however.

A grueling marathon of endurance that felt more like a test of patience than a thrilling escape.260312 (2.0)I watched this 1973 classic in 2011, expecting a high-stakes adventure of survival and freedom. While the performances and the sheer scale of the struggle are undeniable, the relentless pace and the repetitive cycle of capture and escape felt increasingly exhausting. Despite its status as a definitive prison drama, I struggled to find the emotional core needed to stay fully invested, resulting in a weary 2.0.

This has some of the worst sound mixing I have ever heard, dialogue is almost impossible to hear over the sound effects in some of the early scenes. I found this pretty scattered overall.