Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-25 14:04:35

different concept results in an appealing movie

The Experiment lives up to its name in more ways than one.It's about a group of people who get paid a large sum of money to pretend to be either prisoners or prison guards. Which one it is depends on what the assignment paper says. It turns out Adrien Brody's character becomes the innocent prisoner and Forest Whitaker's character becomes the power-hungry prison guard. While the two sides are taking their respective role, video cameras from above are watching closely the actions of every person in the prison system.That's basically all I really want to say about the storyline because revealing anything more would definitely spoil the movie for everyone. Just know that there's several moments of power abuse that leads to humiliation, and one scene in particular involves urination and it's totally disgraceful.The Experiment is probably best described as a spin on your typical prison-type storyline. The storyline concerning a power struggle is obviously the aspect that stands out above everything else. In all other areas however, this is exactly what you'd expect out of a good suspense- incredibly violent and action-packed, and the acting is really good throughout every single segment. It's a quality film with a different take on an age old storyline that centers around a prison and the mistreatment of others. The only difference between this film and the others is that the prisoners are actually the innocent ones in this case. Excellent movie all around.

fpollinger 2012-05-25 12:06:13

Important Message, but a movie with flaws

First off: I am German and i've seen the original Das Experiment manyyears ago. I wouldn't call all Americans dumb because they remakeforeign movies. In fact this movie is better in some ways, like theacting of Forest Whitaker, which reminds me like a evolution from astay-at-home-dude to his interpretation of Idi Amin.But the movies share a big problem. The original experiment was theMilgram Experiment, which was in the 60s if i recall correctly. Thedifference to the movie experiment is, that they originally usedcompletely sane men. So that's why this study had such a big impact.They stopped the experiment at a earlier stage, but they were right atlosing control. So in the movies there are psychopaths, Nazis, misfitsand even an emo. I think that weakens the message of the movie. Itshould not be saying: Maniacs and psychopaths are capable of violence,oppression and humiliation. The message of the movies should be: Everyman is capable of violence, oppression and humiliation. But it ispossible to prevent such things if we ever arrive a level of empathy,philosophy and post-capitalism, then we could prove that humans aremore than monkeys with funky weapons.So apart from the message the movie is OK. Don't expect an actionflick, so everything's fine.

TwitterJamieMadril 2012-05-21 01:55:44

The human ego can be a dangerous thing..*spoiler alert*

The human ego can be a dangerous thing.. I was intrigued by the idea ofthe film, and the greed that drives each of the characters. AdrienBrody did a fantastic job of portraying a man that is consumed by hisdesire to be reunited with his lover. As the story progresses, hisconscience becomes entangled in the daily battles of completing theexperiment, and simply trying to survive. Average men who have becomeguards lose touch with reality and become enthralled with theirnew-found power. As the lines of reality blur, the guards begintormenting the prisoners. As the power struggle within the experimentseems to escalate, the line of humanity is crossed. Prisoners soonbecome the victims of unspeakable torment. The film begs the question,"when have you gone too far?" Each character in the film has their ownfatal flaw, and ultimately those flaws will be their greatest enemyinside these prison walls. Ultimately, one must decide.. who lives andwho dies in this ultimate test of humanity.

okmike77 2012-05-20 19:48:26

Not Surprised at Hollywood's Agenda

Not part of the original facts of what happened, the good-guy in themovie is an atheist, peace-nic, liberal, but the bad guy believes inGod and reads the Bible. The Hollywood twist tells us that: even though you may believe innon-violence, sometimes violence is necessary to kill those who aretelling you what to do when you do not think you should have to followthose rules. It is doubtful that this was not part of the originalmovie and not part of the original experiment. Expected from Hollywood atheists who have been becoming activist /fundamentalist in recent years.

2012-05-16 01:14:39

Good One!

I never would have expected that this one would have been this good, I never would have heard about it if my rental store didn't recommend it today. Strange but different worth the watch!

me-ga-sa 2012-05-15 08:51:20

Ridiculous!

This is an example of a perfect crap. I couldn't even finish watchingit. I was too enraged to finish. How do people make such a ridiculouscrap out of an important experiment? What was the point of making thismovie and destroying the real experiment in people's eyes?! Who wrotesuch a ridiculous (I don't know which other word to use, "absurd" fitsalso) script?? Do they know anything about psychology? NO. If theydon't know then they shouldn't write and make such movies. Because theyonly made a ridiculous movie which made no sense. Everything was so outof logic and overdone that I couldn't survive it. It was a stupid,painful to watch movie with an absurd and ridiculous script. I amenraged by this nonsense.

derek_martin25 2012-05-11 01:38:08

Want to delve into the human psyche? Look somewhere else

I was looking forward to this movie as an actual Prison Officer myselfI have heard a lot about this experiment from other officers andcolleagues. So I was looking forward to seeing what it was really allabout.So the movie is a little slow at the beginning and just feels like itsjust goes through the very predictable motions to the end without toomany surprises or explaining properly why each of characters behavedthe way they did especially would of liked more back round info onWhitakers character we get some but not nearly enough that's if we areto believe he evolved as quick as he did or to the degree he did After all this movie is supposed to be about a study on human behaviorand I think we as an audience deserved a little insight to why eachperson became the character they transformed into, Without this itsjust another prison movie one we have seen time and time again, so Iwas really hoping to see a fresh look on this EXPERIMENT with a insightinto my world and what I have to deal with each day. Sadly they onlything we see give man a little power and he thinks he is a king, givehim a lot and he thinks he is a God. But that's true in all walks oflife and careers not just the prison system.To sum up the acting is fine Whitaker and Brody both give fineperformances even though Whitaker's character is over the top justwished it was a film about the human psyche and not another prisonflick with a very predictable twists and turns

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain 2012-05-10 06:45:10

The Experiment (2010)

A good remake held together by some fantastic performances. It changesenough, but still feels familiar. Brody is a pacifist here, not areporter, and he's just looking for some money. Actually, money is themain drive behind the actions of the characters, which removes some ofthe beastly nature. Here the guards feel forced to act so as not tolose their money. Same goes for the prisoners. We are also told at thebeginning that violence will not be tolerated, making it a bit stupidthat when violence does arrive nothing is done. This could have beenjustified by showing some cutaways of those conducting the experiment.Most of the flaws

2012-05-10 17:33:40

VERY INTENSE

This is perhaps a 5-star movie, but the over intensity prevented me "loving" this movie to a simply "liking" this movie. An experiment in the human psyche is conducted using a prison setting where one third of the participants are guards and two thirds are inmates. They are divided up according to their interview, part of which we get to see as a way to quickly build character. Adrien Brody is a prisoner. He is the ultra liberal atheists. Forrest Whitaker, a religious fellow who believes in absolute right and wrong becomes one of the guards. The two briefly talk and connect prior to the interview process. The participants are promised a $1,000 dollars a day as long as they follow the rules. Breaking the rules must be dealt with "commensurately" and within 30 minutes or else the red light comes on, the experiment is over and no one gets paid. At this point I suspected two things: 1) The red light would never come on no matter what they did and 2)There were some shills within the group. I was wrong about the second one. While one of the rules was "no violence" the guards gradually test what constitutes violence. The red light becomes their "God" who "approves" of their action by inactivity. Forrest Whitaker eventually becomes the leader of the guards, even punishing his own guards who have compassion toward the prisoners. Adrien Brody becomes his rival as the leader of the prisoners. The acting is good. The action is at a good pace. There is human torture and beating as one might expect.

2012-05-09 23:35:22

Haven't Even Finished

OK so someone should have done a little tiny bit of medical research before making this movie. I have not even finished watching it yet but i am so distracted by this glaring mistake since it plays such a big part in the plot that i had to stop and write this before i can finish watching. The guard is supposedly 42 years old....how can you live that long and not have a tiny bit of knowledge about how the human body works? The guy said he needed sugar because he is diabetic and his blood sugar got too low. Next thing you know, without him ever eating a bite of anything he wants his insulin. The guard would not let the guy have anything to bring his sugar up. He should know that could result in a coma and potential death. Also if your blood sugar is low at the time, the last thing you want to do is give yourself a shot of insulin as your blood sugar would on;y drop lower ! Poorly researched so much that it is ruining the movie. The movie idea is wonderful ! But if you are going to make something a big deal in a movie, at least know what you are dealing with before you put it on film. Get the facts straight. How many kids learn things from movies? Now some kid is gonna be going for the insulin shot for his friend if his friend passes out from his blood sugar going too low and kill him. A little responsibility would be a good thing Hollywood.

moonbeaver 2012-05-09 13:43:25

The Brody

The tragedy of this film is really two-fold: First, if you are a fan ofAdrien Brody or Forest Whitaker (and respect them as brilliant actors),you have to empathize with their probable shame of having participatedin the film at all. As you watch 'The Experiment', it's difficult notto imagine the two actors sitting in some dimly lit bar each day afterfilming, drinking whiskey together in silence.Second, the script is poor. Or under-researched. Or over-researched.Maybe both. Maybe their were too many producers sticking their nosesin. I don't know.Sigh.Imagine that you're a famous film producer and I'm pitching a movieidea to you...Ready? The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardoin 1971. Students were selected and divided into 'prisoners' and'guards'. The doctors stood back and watched the bedlam.What do you think? Me personally, I want to make this into a film rightnow. What's more, I want Oscar winners Adrien Brody and Forest Whitakerto act the hell out of it.I don't want to change the story. I don't want to take it into the 21stcentury. I don't want to ramp up the violence for effect. I don't wantto make a big Hollywood production. I want to stick to the guts! Stickto what makes it interesting! Now imagine you are Adrien Brody. He hears the pitch. He's in! Probablytakes a pay-cut just to be involved, the opportunity is so great toshow off his talent. Same with Whitaker! Next thing you know the scriptis spiraling out of control! Someone wants more sex scenes! Someonewants more violence! Someone is looking at test data and decides thereneeds to be a rape scene! More brutal beatings! And Nazis! Let's get aNazi! Never mind the implausibility or it all! But Brody's committed.He hangs in there and gives the best performance that he can. But it'slost.'The Experiment' is an example of Hollywood flying off the mark. It's aperfect opportunity gone wrong. It's badly edited and shouldn't havebeen released.Why then, you ask, the 3 out of 10 rating? Why not a 1? Near the end of the film, as the predictable climax approaches, AdrienBrody's acting saves the film. Somehow he has miraculously breathedenough life to his character throughout that you suddenly feel somewhatconnected. It comes out of nowhere.Brody rules.Forest Whitaker is also good in the film, but the lines he is handedare so contrived that it's not worth commenting on here.I didn't hate it. But I felt bad for those involved.Maybe you should wait 'til you see it on TV some late night before youfall asleep. You can flick over to the Food Network or something duringthe boring parts.

Claire Prins 2012-05-09 01:40:07

Wow!

Wow. I knew from the description that this film had the potential to bepowerful, but I had no idea just how powerful. Violence. Non-violence.The truth of this film, I believe, is that as a species, we have yet tolearn how to live in a non- violent way because violence has been apart of who we have always BEEN. Non-violence is a learned behavior and any behavioral change takestime, conscious effort, and a passion to succeed. I, too, am of theopinion that we CAN and WILL change the future. Wow.

perkypops 2012-05-06 08:15:16

Flaws in plot let it down badly

If you have ever taken part in a game called the Prisoner's Dilemmayou'll get the starting point for The Experiment. A group of peoplerespond to an advert in a newspaper for well paid volunteers for twoweeks work. A mildly irrelevant back story explains how Adrien Brodygets to volunteer, and interview recordings explain the back stories ofimportant others.At first the film sticks to a plausible plot but then things go awryand the storyline simply nosedives into the badly, badly flawed finalfifteen minutes or so. But it is not just the plot line that is poor.The script lacks courage. The acting is pretty average and spoilt bysilly background music for what is supposed to be a tense,psychological thriller. The ending is pathetic, truly pathetic.Perhaps you get the message I didn't enjoy this much but if truth beknown I was deeply disappointed in this film. The subject matter isexceedingly rich in promise and this film just blows it all away forcheap, poorly done "shocks". Three out of ten.

mypa333 2012-05-05 21:04:53

People's nature is wild ! We need to accept this.

I can only say that this movie played with my emotions like a carouselon fast forward. I loved the acting and the script was great.Give a human some power and he'll use it to confirm his society status.The movie was well built(in MY opinion) and the actors did a good jobin putting life in this movie.I can truly say that I felt I was living the story as one of theinmates. The story kept building up and the ending wasn't as Ianticipated. One of the best movies I saw lately. I do hope we'll seemore of this kind of movies and not movies that use special effects.The director toyed with my thoughts and my heart was on a full "Le MansRace", pumping like crazy till the end.

William A. White 2012-05-02 06:35:23

Oh what a lovely tea party!

This film had been sat on our shelf gathering dust for a few weeks, Ihad picked it up for a whopping £1.50 but we had not made the time toenjoy it. Time, at the moment, is a luxury we don't have so when wemanage to clear our schedule and watch a movie, and it is a bad one, itfeels like a waste of time… My time was not wasted.The Experiment is a remake of Das Experiment, which is based on aGerman book called Black Box which took inspiration from The StanfordPrison Experiment. Since watching the film I've read up on the StanfordPrison Experiment and ordered a copy of Das Experiment, that shouldhopefully highlight that I thoroughly enjoyed the remake. UnfortunatelyBlack Box is not available translated into English so that'll stop meobsessing too much.Time to review the film… Loved it. It is slow paced (eventually pickingup speed in the later scenes) but wonderfully so. I didn't feel boredand couldn't keep my eyes off of the screen even during the horridbits. The cast are all very good, each adding their own element to thefilm but for me the best thing about it was the fact that I feltinvolved in the movie, physically uncomfortable watching some of thescenes, praying for them to end and yet at other times I was clenchingmy fists in excitement, lifting my legs up and holding my breath as Iexperienced the fight scenes.This movie is a treat and should be loved by more of you! Rent it,borrow it or buy it now… you really won't be disappointed* *disclaimer…you might be disappointed… expectation is a b*tch

monkies3388 2012-05-01 18:50:33

Absolutely horrible. Watch Das Experiment instead. Please save yourself the trouble.

it may not actually deserve a 1 rating, but i just finished watchingthe movie, so i still have a disgusting taste in my mouth, so to speak.so, the original, Das Experiment, was an amazing movie. it wascompletely believable, for one. i find one of the worst qualities of abad movie is believability. i can get over bad acting, or any of theother cliché signs of a bad movie... but if i cant even believe thatwhat is going on could possibly be going on, it can be HARD to watch.i can believe that scientists would hold an experiment of this kind...i can (reaching) believe that they would offer $1k per day toparticipants, considering the circumstances of the experiment. what icannot believe... *if you don't know yet, they are not allowed to hurtanybody physically, or the experiment is immediately supposed to beended* is that the guards would, without circumstances changing, in onescene, continue this 'humiliation without physical harm' by dunking themain character's head in water over and over... then turn around, andin the very next scene, beat the crap out of one of the guards whobroke the rules.i cannot believe, that after all the 'prisoners' saw the guards beatthe crap out of the other guard, that the prisoners would not doSOMETHING. they sat there... as they outnumbered the guards... andwatched the lead guard KILL one of the prisoners. STILL NOTHING.completely unbelievable... at one point, one of the guards has decidedthat he has had enough, that the lead guard is crazy, and basicallybegins walking out. the lead guard stops him... by saying some morecrazy stuff... if you were standing next to somebody, and they saidthey get off on humiliating and beating the crap out of somebody, andyou said, "thats crazy! Im leaving. you are insane." and they came backwith something just as crazy, you don't stay... you leave. he didn'teven threaten him.the guard who wanted to rape that prisoner? completely unnecessary.actually, correction... they didn't weave it into the plot... at all.it felt like its own little gross side show.the ending... good god.i have to stop for a second on that one... its that horrible. i kepthanging on for the ending, because i wanted to know why they didn't endthe experiment. i don't need to get into details, but suffice it tosay, they all ended up riding a single bus home, the rapist, the raped,the killer, and although he wasn't shown, probably the killed. itwasn't some profound or poignant statement about humanity orsomething... it just seemed stupid, and again, not believable.at a couple points, they were trying to some sort of statement abouthumanity, social evolution... it was not effective whatsoever.IN SUMMARY! Not believable at all. you do feel a bit of that revengesatisfaction at the end, but it is minimal, to spite having waited foran hour plus. the acting was mediocre, to spite some big hitters beingcalled in.If you like the premise... if you want to see it done right,believable, emotionally charged, and with an ending that will knockyour socks off? watch Das Experiment.would somebody please.... stop Americans from remaking foreign films?just stop it :|

the_invincible2000 2012-04-29 22:54:35

Worst Movie Ever

it has to be worst movie ever , i mean even if you do experiment likethis it doesn't mean everyone become delusional and go crazy in just5-6 days and besides that the overall plot is fail....... i don't knowmay be its just me.... you go ahead and see if you like it....i don'tknow WATS wrong with this site few good movies here are rated like2star and movies like this 7star ,(laugh)...epic..anyways back to themovie , imagine yourself getting wet by 4 guys what you would do,wouldyou still care about the money or experiment....yeah ,i know ,you willgive them beating of a lifetime ,well that is what i would do....allright i am done if you don't believe me watch it ,but if you want totake my word don't ,don't watch it and save your time and money...

goforthclan 2012-04-29 20:22:09

Excellent Film

Having not seen Das Experiment as others had I went in to beentertained. I left having accomplished that and much more. In light ofrecent events (the breaking of news that the American Governmentinfected black sharecroppers with syphilis and allowing them to gountreated) I found this movie compelling to say the least. Accented bybrilliant performances by Brody and Whitaker, the movie was thoughtprovoking and timely. I left thinking, how far will they go to see howthey can best use us? I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie. Asothers have said I pretty much had the movie figured out within thefirst 20 minutes, as far as the direction we were heading in. Thatbeing said I still found the acting superb and I was drawn in by theacting, the progression of the storyline and character development. Inever found the movie slow and thought that the female character was animportant ingredient for Brody's character to remain in touch with hisreality. The pacifist became violent the controlled became thecontroller. I would go on but having just seen the movie I would begoing into a diatribe on science and the need to know...

nicole-cooper-926-127535 2012-04-27 01:42:35

Fantastically disturbing

I found this movie absolutely phenomenal. Yes some of the charactertwists may have been predictable, but true to its hype, it wasdefinitely a psychological thriller. Unlike other movies which claim tobe mentally disturbing such as Open Water and even The Girl With theDragon Tattoo, I found this to be the most. It was definitely like atrain wreck, terrible to look at, but impossible not to. I mostdefinitely was not expecting some of the events that took place. Ittruly did display the animosity of man kind. There were so manycharacter foils that it seemed a little too thought out. But altogetherwell done, well done.

2012-04-26 11:19:34

The real "Experiment" was very different though...

Students at an Ivy League University participated in what was supposed to be a three week (I believe) experiment, whereby volunteers were to be paid but probably MUCH less than in this movie....and there was no stipulation as to "if something happens the experiment ends and nobody gets paid". And nothing of this level of violence took place. But people DID revert to "becoming" their roles and the thing stopped after maybe a week or so had passed. And all that was bad enough. But this movie was exploitive as most movies-about-violence (per-se) ARE...and the point might be...that we don't understand the roles of life that we're put into, and this experiment is a good reminder of that. A cautionary tale it was, and it was good at being that both in the real experiment and in this "version" of it.