The Way Back (2010, Weir)
10-18-08, 11:25 PM
#1
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The Way Back (Peter Weir)
Glad to see Weir behind the camera again. From Variety:
Peter Weir is set to direct "The Way Back," the fact-based story of the escape of soldiers from a Siberian gulag in 1940.
Production begins in March in Bulgaria.
The highly selective Australian helmer last directed the 2003 film "Master and Commander" for Fox, and developed but dropped out of "Shantaram," the Warner Bros. project which was to star Johnny Depp.
He wrote the script for "The Way Back" and based it on several sources, most notably the Slavomir Rawicz book "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom." Book is Rawicz’s account of being captured by the Red Army in 1939 and his journey to freedom with other inmates. The group crossed the Siberian arctic, the Gobi desert and the Himalayas, finally settling in Tibet and India.
Production begins in March in Bulgaria.
The highly selective Australian helmer last directed the 2003 film "Master and Commander" for Fox, and developed but dropped out of "Shantaram," the Warner Bros. project which was to star Johnny Depp.
He wrote the script for "The Way Back" and based it on several sources, most notably the Slavomir Rawicz book "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom." Book is Rawicz’s account of being captured by the Red Army in 1939 and his journey to freedom with other inmates. The group crossed the Siberian arctic, the Gobi desert and the Himalayas, finally settling in Tibet and India.
01-11-09, 01:35 PM
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Re: The Way Back (Peter Weir)
Anything from Weir is a must-see for me.
01-11-09, 02:17 PM
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Re: The Way Back (Peter Weir)
Agreed. Weir is one of the greatest living directors right now, but he doesn't make many films. Glad to see him with a new project.
10-22-10, 05:07 PM
#7
Re: The Way Back (Peter Weir)
It's Weir. I'm in.
02-01-11, 06:13 PM
#9
The Way Back (2010, Weir)
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Anyone see this yet? It's currently at 75% on RottenTomatoes. I'm a huge fan of Peter Weir so I'll be checking this out.
Anyone see this yet? It's currently at 75% on RottenTomatoes. I'm a huge fan of Peter Weir so I'll be checking this out.
02-01-11, 07:30 PM
#10
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
I did. It's good, but very very slow. Marketing on the film was crap. No one was in my theater and the showtimes were cut in half the second week in my area.
02-01-11, 09:59 PM
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02-01-11, 11:44 PM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
They have done a poor job at marketing this film. It looks absolutely fantastic; hopefully I will get to see it sooner rather than later.
02-02-11, 10:18 PM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
Twenty minutes in the gulag. Then two hours of long-distance shots of people walking. Stop for five minutes here and there to talk about looking for food and water. Over all, it was a damn boring film. They never are in any danger, they never get chased by wolves or Nazis or Soviets or anything. Just more damn walking. They never stop walking. Did I mention they do a lot of walking in this film? Hell, even MY feet were bloody and swollen after 150 minutes of seeing them walk!
02-02-11, 10:25 PM
#14
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
yet the trailer makes the film look like a rousing foot chase - which it essentially isn't. I thought the first twenty minutes were sleep inducing, but I didn't mind the rest of the movie - the cinemtography is obviousily the highlight of the movie - in the grand tradition of an epic, the wide sweeping panavision camera work looks amazing on the big screen.
02-02-11, 11:23 PM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
Twenty minutes in the gulag. Then two hours of long-distance shots of people walking. Stop for five minutes here and there to talk about looking for food and water. Over all, it was a damn boring film. They never are in any danger, they never get chased by wolves or Nazis or Soviets or anything. Just more damn walking. They never stop walking. Did I mention they do a lot of walking in this film? Hell, even MY feet were bloody and swollen after 150 minutes of seeing them walk!
06-17-11, 06:44 PM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
Twenty minutes in the gulag. Then two hours of long-distance shots of people walking. Stop for five minutes here and there to talk about looking for food and water. Over all, it was a damn boring film. They never are in any danger, they never get chased by wolves or Nazis or Soviets or anything. Just more damn walking. They never stop walking. Did I mention they do a lot of walking in this film? Hell, even MY feet were bloody and swollen after 150 minutes of seeing them walk!
09-02-11, 04:25 PM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
Even Weir himself stated that Hollywood doesn't support films like TWB. Even he had a hard time funding the project.
09-02-13, 10:53 AM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
Got this on BD a while back. Watching it again.
Great visuals of the territories these characters face. Ed Harris is the best one in here, the man gets so into his stuff that he's easily the strongest actor in here.
The BD itself is meh. Weak features and there are some Video issues. All mostly to when they're in some type of black surrounding or some shadowed area. Looks fucking weird. Thankfully most of the film takes place in litted elements.
The movie itself? Pretty damn epic in scope but as much as I enjoy the visual and the music, something about the narrative is off. I can't put my finger on it. It just needed to be tightened a bit. I don't mind the length, I actually appreciate it for this film. Just something about the story needed to be better refined. Don't know how to put it.
Either way it's a trek of a film, worth a watch.
Anyone else have any issue with the video quality of the film on the BD?
Still wish to get a jampacked Master and Commander BD one day. Will never happen.
Great visuals of the territories these characters face. Ed Harris is the best one in here, the man gets so into his stuff that he's easily the strongest actor in here.
The BD itself is meh. Weak features and there are some Video issues. All mostly to when they're in some type of black surrounding or some shadowed area. Looks fucking weird. Thankfully most of the film takes place in litted elements.
The movie itself? Pretty damn epic in scope but as much as I enjoy the visual and the music, something about the narrative is off. I can't put my finger on it. It just needed to be tightened a bit. I don't mind the length, I actually appreciate it for this film. Just something about the story needed to be better refined. Don't know how to put it.
Either way it's a trek of a film, worth a watch.
Anyone else have any issue with the video quality of the film on the BD?
Still wish to get a jampacked Master and Commander BD one day. Will never happen.
Last edited by Solid Snake; 09-03-13 at 10:54 AM.
09-03-13, 08:02 AM
#22
Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
This was a funny coincidence that this thread was bumped. I actually just picked this up from the library over the weekend because we saw Master and Commander last week and I wanted to check out something else the director has done. Looking forward to watching it later this week.
09-03-13, 12:47 PM
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Re: The Way Back (2010, Weir)
I enjoyed the movie. It isn't perfect, but there's nothing really wrong with it. I did have one big problem regarding its authenticity. Spoiler, even if have seen the film and like it you might not want to read:
Spoiler:
