Whiplash (2014) Review

A determined young drummer is pushed to the limits when gets in the studio band at the prestigious music academy.

Fletcher is a students worst nightmare as nothing seems to impress him, or is good enough for his standards. Especially when it comes to playing at his tempo! It is engaging to watch as you aren’t really sure how far he is going to push next. He will stop at nothing to get the best out of someone even if that potentially means destroying them in the process.

Andrew is obsessed with drumming and truly wants to make it his life. Or make it a proper part of his life, he is willing to risk and lose everything around him. He even gets rid of a potential relationship to focus on just that. I have to admit I found that part awful, he lost some of the like I was building up towards him. But at the same time I could also understand, that he had goals to achieve. Which meant everything to him.

The film keeps taking everything to a level you can’t even imagine. Having Fletcher just destroy and explode with both his language and outbursts. He loves throwing things as well, so it certainly makes you think.

Certain scenes do hit hard and are fantastic to watch. Seeing Andrew really push himself trying to improve his playing ability, as he really wants to be the core member of the band. He will stop at nothing, which was never going to end well at all. It was always going to be a nightmare in the end, sometimes getting what you want turns into the worst thing to actually happen to you.

The grit and determination shown and demonstrated throughout the film really is inspiring. It will make people think about there own lives and how far they will go to achieve what they really want out of life. Would you push and work that hard?

I can totally understand why J.K. Simmons has been picking up awards and hotly tipped to win an Oscar this year. He would totally deserve one as well, he is haunting and you actually have fear when he appears on-screen. You just don’t know how crazy he is going to get next. But when you find out he does it to really test and push people it makes you think about his motives even if he doesn’t go about it in the correct way.

This is a special type of film which doesn’t happen very often. I think Miles Teller deserves a lot of praise as well, he is something else in this and puts in a top performance as well. Teller and Simmons work so well together and bring out the best in each other which gives credit to them and the director for putting together such an impressive film. I have a feeling though that this one won’t be a big box office hit which is a shame in the long run.