Stoic (2009)

You won't be disappointed!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In my opinion this movie deserves a much higher rating then it has received. The acting is phenomenal, the directing is above par to most of Boll's movies and it is overall a good movie. But, to me it was a little too much. I've had my fair share in movies but this was a cut above the rest. Very graphic, very realistic and overall I found it very hard to watch. How the 3 prisoners beat, rape, degrade and humiliate one of the other fellow inmates to the point where they fake his suicide is very unsettling and believable. The ending is also very upsetting. One of Uwe Boll's best movies to date as well as Rampage. Great performances. I wouldn't recommend this movie due to its graphic content but it is a very good movie that deserves a higher rating then 4.7/10.

Before I go any Further, I would like to say, I have seen far worst than this! House of the Dead, Battlefield Earth and FearDotCom are just a few that I have seen. When watching this film, I was lost when trying to Figure out the above films were rated better. House of the Dead was probably the worst I have seen and its still rated better. Alone in the Dark isn't amazing. It wont live long in the Memory for some but it deserves a lot more than 2.0.If you are unfortunate enough to be in a theater where this movie is showing, and you don't pass out, you'll laugh at what are supposed to be frightening or suspenseful moments of the film. The implausibility of several scenes will just stun you, conveys the feeling of anyone who pays to see this. If you must see this movie, do yourself a favor and wait until it's in the bargain bin at the video store. If there's any justice in the film industry, one of the main actors will be there to rent it to you.

I'm disappointed at the reviews and comments this film has received. Yes it's a tough movie to digest, but it's raising awareness on a much larger issue, which I think people completely overlooked. Had this movie been based on a prison cell in a less developed country, it probably would have had the critics going bravo. But picture this happening in Germany? In terms of directing, Boll did an excellent job. The rawness of the movie adds to the effectiveness of the characters and leaves you at the edge of your seat wondering just how much worse can it get.A lot of people have complained about walking out of the cinema hall, which is baffling to me. If you were, in one night, tormented, beaten up, peed on, raped, and then had a broom shoved up your ass before you were forced to hang yourself - wouldn't you hope that individuals would actually have the humanity to understand what you've been through? Apparently not, as critics are more concerned about Boll's directing than the guy who endured this in 2006. Nobody should have to go through this insanity for any reason whatsoever. And looking back at the sentences the 3 guys received for what they did - well it just goes to show you the value of human life. Is more jail time really going to solve this problem? I don't think so. A flawed system is just the beginning. Why exactly are taxpayers paying to cloth and feed such animals beats me.All in all, I was hoping IMDb would have more information on where these guys are now and of course a better rating for a really well made film. My advice: please go watch this movie. If you're super sensitive, then at least rent it. The movie sticks with you and when you wake up the next day, you'll still be thinking, damn that really happened to someone. I'm grateful to the guys that made this movie for bringing this incident to the forefront. The movie is very powerful and as painful as it might be to watch, you'll be glad you did.Now should this movie win an award: definitely. Should people stop talking about Boll and focus on the issues raised - I can only hope.

I won't go into discussing previous Boll Movies because it won't help talking about Stoic for its completely different at least from the trash I've seen by Boll. Stoic is a pretty straight movie about 4 guys in a prison cell and the dark automatics that group dynamics can take. The movie is pretty slow which makes sense because it follows all the little steps that lead to a giant disaster. It focuses on the 3 guys torturing their cell mates beginning with macho humiliation games that turn into a murder masked as a suicide. The visuals are gritty and the atmosphere is dark and kind of nihilistic, yet this movie is based on a true recent case in which the convicts were just around 20 years old. Stoic is no masterpiece, sure but its a movie that serves its purpose... the acting is believable, the inter-cut interview sequences with the depicted real events work, the atmosphere is cold and realistic in that the motivation by fear is pretty obvious for all involved. There are now winners here but luckily the picture painted is not black and white but a dark gray. I hate when cases like this one are put aside with the bare argument that the killers were "animals" or something like that because it almost never is simple like that. I like movies like Stoic for forcing the viewer to look at a side of humanity that is dormant in all of us until we are dropped into situations like the one depicted here and who knows if you or me wouldn't do things we can't think of now when fear messes up our rationality.I think the possibilities of group dynamics were depicted in a raw and realistic way... kind of reminded me of the bleak outcome in "Eden Lake". And in that it made me think after the credits rolled it sure was a good movie. I can understand if some people consider it too slow or too exploitative, yet I wouldn't say that myself. But a rating of 3 points with most reviews positive seems to finally prove that a lot of people really just hate Boll whatever he does. Up to now I saw no reason to argue for Boll but with this film I do since it is definitely far better than Bolls previous outputs.