Did you notice that all the very violent episodes are shown offscreen except for the one that was undone.

I liked the idea of both satisfying the audience's bloodlust/revenge and then ripping it away.

Shouldn't there be spoiler warnings?

Anyway, this was really good, just as good as the original.

8/10

Spoilers are allowed in the Critics forum

I wish the admins would just post something explaining that spoilers are allowed here - - perhaps in the sub-forum description - - so that we don't keep getting this same question over and over again.

This is just a rough draft, but I suggest something like the following:

In theory, I think the movie's interesting. In practice...somewhat tedious. The trailer got most of these ideas across anyway.

I'm still not sure what I'm being scolded for. Watching violent movies? Is that more dangerous than self-satisfied art pictures?

Yes, but still...there's no harm in including a spoiler warning.

There is indeed harm.

It prevents the full, open, and honest discussion of the hidden and finer points of a movie.

Having to guard our words at every turn, blunts them.

It is essential to refrain from glimpsing the forbidden secrets within this holy forum until one has drank from the river of experience...

LOL. Okay.

So you have to read the director's intentions before watching the movie? Well, I didn't and I guess that's why I found it tedious. If it's a joke on the audience I didn't get it and I am willing to admit that. It's not like I was even rooting for the family, I didn't care after a certain point. Maybe it's the fact that they felt the audience needed to let the kid's death sink in, but there's about 10 minutes after the shooting where literally nothing happens. Make me care about the characters first if you want to play the rewind joke on me because at that point I didn't even care if I was being messed with. I guess I can respect as a satire in some way, but as a movie...

- D+

P.S. I guess I had a problem with it's realism also, but it's that's how the director wanted it whatever.

The kid's death scene is brilliant. Just because the characters don't move or say anthing doesn't mean nothing is happening. A LOT is happening during that scene. They stay silent for so long and what's the mother's reaction? To turn off the tv. BRILLIANT.

I guess I really didn't get it if turning off the tv is brilliant.

It's fine if you didn't like the movie. I still think that scene is absolutely brilliant.

Well i thought it was rather boring, pointless and that was what really made me hate this movie. It had no point whatsoever, just two guys gets in "rich" peoples houses and kills them for no reason at all.

And what the hell was up with Pitt's characters talking to the audiences and the rewind button?!... Maybe i didnt get something i dont know but that was rather odd and made me hate even more the movie.

D+

Can i compared this to The Strangers? because at least that movie was fun.

Not the masterpiece I was expecting (and hoping for), but still rather brilliant.

It'd be too easy to dismiss it as merely Haneke toying with his audience and chastising them for enjoying violent movies, but I think its ideas run much deeper than that. I never got a sense that I was being punished - more like I was being examined and critiqued. It's a horror film that totally understands its intentions and the intentions of its viewer, and exploits that for maximum effect. Every time Paul turns to the camera and speaks to us, he's not insulting our intelligence or questioning our interest in the events - he's merely manipulating us, just as he does to the family. When the film rewinds, taking away our satisfied feeling from the vengeful act, it's just another form of torture - another 'funny game' being played on us. It's a brilliant meta film, because it treats its audience just as it treats its characters - not with contempt, but with sadism.

My only problem was that I wanted more. I wanted more breaking the fourth wall, I wanted more games played, I wanted more of its brilliance shining through. Perhaps I'm the kind of viewer that deserved to be critiqued, mocked, insulted, but if that's the case, then the film is even more brilliant, for it works even better for the viewers who need it. Am I sadistic, disturbing film watcher? Maybe. Do I need to be examined? Perhaps. Is this film the thing to do it? Why not?

Perhaps a bit better in concept than in execution, but still an insightful, intriguing work.

I can't believe you would reveal such a shocking truth about yourself!

No happy ending here. What a film. Jesus. One long punishment with no repercussions. It is shocking stuff, and I admire cinema of this ilk because only a handful of people in the world are doing it (the shock stuff, not the deeper intention), which to be fair is probably similar to the amount of people actually seeking it (proportionate to how many directors are actually active). It is risky stuff but so damn powerful. I was on the edge of my seat, heart thumping, with my mouth open for most of it, which I cannot say the same for Trier films, for example. Then it ends and ... I cannot believe it.

Eden Lake is a similar shocker to this, but that hit harder possibly because I saw it at a younger age. But this is a much better made film. It's not often that you see a film that toys with your emotions. Usually films follow a formula and they end with an outcome where you can leave the cinema just as you entered it. Funny Games isn't one of those films. It is self-aware and steals the audience's triumph just as those two psychopaths steal Ann's. I guess this film also analyses the viewer, or presents a platform to self-analyse. The fact that all I could wonder as the credits rolled was whether there is a sequel tells me a lot about my psyche. Not that I believed for a second there is a sequel in existence, but needing the satisfaction of retribution to just not see the bad guys win, despite myself actually rooting for villains in most films, answers questions that most films don't even ask. That is why I think this film is pretty much a masterpiece. I know that word gets thrown around a lot. But take it as you will.