The Crucible (1996)

WARNING! BECAUSE THIS MOVIE CONTAINS HISTORICAL EVENTS, I WILL BE DISCUSSING THEM IN DECENT DETAIL. I’M PRETTY SURE THESE COUNT AS SPOILERS. I AM PUTTING THIS HERE SO NOBODY CAN YELL AT ME. I AM GOING TO STOP PRESSING THE SHIFT BUTTON AND START MY REVIEW IN ONE…TWO…THREE…Meh. I saw this film literally two days after coming back from Massachusetts. When I was there, my favorite part of it was going to Salem to see the Witch Museum (NOTE: If any of you get the chance to go to Salem, go to the Salem Witch Museum. It is amazing). And at the museum, I was more captivated there for an hour than I was here for 2 hours. And it would be possible to make a one hour story two hours long without just some useless filler. And that’s what a good bit of this movie is. Just useless filler to make the movie longer. Because it’s apparently a rule now that dramas have to exceed the two hour mark to be good. And I’m fine with that, as long as it’s a good two hours. But the rest of the film was actually pretty good. It gave these true stories somewhat of justice, and actually kept me interested. Daniel Day-Lewis is very good in the film as John Proctor, who defended the accused witches and was later hanged. I don’t bother telling you what is going to happen in the film, because it’s basically a history lesson. And if that upsets you, I’m sorry. I put the warning at the beginning of the review for a reason. Either way, the rest of the cast is pretty good, if a little over-animated at times. I say this because they’re all so serious. You know how in Airplane! how the characters were all so serious which made the comedy work? Well, imagine them in Salem, without the jokes. It kind of took me out of the film. Which made me sad, because I was really hoping that I like the film as much as I enjoyed Salem. Also, I do have a personal attachment to this. The day I was leaving Boston, I found out that I am indirectly related to John Proctor…so…yeah. Did the film do the story justice? Not necessarily, no. But if you play this as a historical drama in an artsy theater, nobody’s gonna complain. But then again, nobody’s gonna request it either.
6.5/10