JFK

If I were to add an adjective to JFK, it definitely wouldn't be the best Stone film. But it might deserve the adjective that it is the most personal film. Oliver Stone simply fulfilled his dream and made a film about a topic that interests him the most in modern American history. The film is made with obvious enthusiasm, passionately, and even obsessively. And I don't think it's a good thing. Stone lacks distance and falls into paranoid constructions. In the early 90s, I studied the assassination of Kennedy and read everything that was available in our country. It's like this - if you don't care about seriousness in America, you deal with conspiracy theories about Area 51 and ufology, from which Spielberg himself drew inspiration for his popular culture blockbusters, and if you want to appear serious, you deal with the Kennedy assassination and construct the craziest conspiracies. Oliver Stone understandably chose only the materials that support his theories from a vast amount of material. However, there are just as many clues that break down his idea. I dare not say that I know how everything happened, but in the end, the idea that Oswald acted alone seems more likely than any other version. If anything is really true, it is that the US government administration showed itself in a really bad light, whether it's the security measures before the assassination or the course of the investigation itself. But searching for a devilish conspiracy in all of this reeks of purposefulness. If any myth deserves to be ruthlessly shattered, it is primarily the idea of the "president of truth" that Stone works with. The popular sitcom Red Dwarf provocatively works with the idea in one of its episodes that the assassination will be thwarted and it leads to a disaster because Kennedy, weakened by constant social scandals from numerous love affairs and ties to the mafia, will not be able to steer America. Of course, it is a comedic exaggeration, but with a real basis. With the passage of time, it can be said that Kennedy was not different from his presidential colleagues and had more than enough scandals on his hands. For me, the film is unbearable in terms of length and especially its conspiratorial paranoid character. In JFK, I see the beginning of the pollution of the public space with the most stupid conspiracy theories imaginable. The mechanism that Stone used has only been recycled since then. Overall impression: 60%. (2015-12-16)

A quality film. Oliver Stone with another one of his burning topics of American history and again well executed. A good screenplay, great camera work (the black and white the authentic footage are fantastic and enhance the overall authenticity of the film), excellent editing, and quality acting performances. (2004-09-01)

An impressive Kevin Costner and stickler for detail, Oliver Stone. An excellent reconstruction, but if we ask the question: “What has this actually done to change anything?" the answer is just a shrug. We’ll have to wait a couple more years for the final and official version of this review, but I’m sure it’s drawing near (I’m sure that they are hard at work on it right now). P.S.: The part with Donald Sutherland is perfect. (2011-04-17)

It makes absolutely no difference whether what is presented here is actually true or just one of many conspiracy theories. The way everything is presented, the way the performances are strong - Sissy Spacek has never been more beautiful - you still get a strong impression from it, especially about the fact that we're just puppets. Oliver Stone at his best. (2016-02-25)

I watched a three and a half hour long film, in which they actually talk all the time, and I wasn't bored for even a second. Does that say enough about how riveting JFK is? I hope so. Oliver Stone has masterfully handled the material and turned a script that could easily have seemed like a simple conspiratorial pub tale about the good guys and the villains into a believable story. The film literally engrossed me during the opening title sequence (a perfect montage of real and newly created shots underlined by the fantastic Williams) and until the end it kept offering something new that made it worth watching breathlessly. And the cast... Just great. (2011-12-02)