Ahmed Farrag Liking or hating a movie can have many factors that lead a viewer to develop an opinion upon the whole, without paying attention to the subtle technical details; but finding a film such as TSL, with all its components, scenes and fading moments, a piece of collective brilliance, an ensemble of great writing, cinematography, directing and acting — it is extremely difficult to list the the reasons for how this film cuts deep into the soul of the human condition.I find myself searching in vain for the most proper way of reviewing such a film — a way that could capture the message of an artist par excellence like Mr. Mccarthy — but to review a film of this standard is to encapsulate a myriad of feelings and observations into one hopelessly unfair critique.One can view this movie as trying to show the incommensurability of two drastically incompatible world views. This is a reading that greatly undermines the depth of the film's theme, and shows a lack of insight that cannot even penetrate the outer skin of the onion like scheme of the film."Whatever Happened?" is the question that Peter Wessel Zappfe asked in his famous article The last Messiah; but the answer was obvious. It was "A breach in the very unity of life, a biological paradox, an abomination, an absurdity, an exaggeration of disastrous nature. Life had overshot its target, blowing itself apart."That life has not the meaning — the teleological sense that humans desperately crave — has been known from the times of the ancient Greeks, and echoed by clever artists through the centuries to our present day. The problem of existential nihilism had never any resemblance to other animal problems; this is because it is not a disease that is seen as having its origin in anything other than being human. And if a cure to human angst, to our the essence — the absurdity of the overdeveloped animal — can only be in death, it does not mean that there are no palliatives that can mask the problem.So, what will happen if anchoring oneself to a "foundational firmament" does not work anymore? "Depressions, excesses, and suicides result." But is going back a viable option? that is what the movie tries to answer. We cannot but anchor ourselves to something, be it a religion, or a cause, or the aspects of our own culture; for unleashing yourself from them will only lead to a horrific fall into the soul crushing abysm of being an intelligent animal in a not so intelligent world.

noname No specific spoiler but There might be a sort of generalizing that acts that way.This probably epitomizes why I think Samuel Jackson is great. He's always more or less the same powerful hysterically adamant guy. Here's a screenplay by Cormack McCarty (SP?) and excellent diect5ing by Tommy Lee Jones....A very actorly piece if there ever was one...a couple guys in a room...randomly brought together in the most extreme sort of discussion.Proof positive again that all the special effects in the world don't hold a candle to masterful human interplay...at least in my book....so I do inevitably make that comparison. There are 2 occasions in particular where what and how Jackson delivers that are so compelling and fantastically funny, though the topic is anything but...where I burst out laughing...not just the exhilaration of performance ...but the sheer immediacy and dark comedy and accuracy of his delivery........As good as Tommy Lee is here he is somewhat miscast...an action guy playing an intellectual.....but it's still pretty perfect....it's the "afterimage" of all his previous things that dis-prepare me for him in this role...but no matter.If you are a Jackson fan especially...like me...or if you haven't discovered him yet...you must see this ......Other moviess that are tour de force in a similar vain are Chines Coffee with Al Pacino and Jerry Orbach and To Sleep with Anger with SDanny Glover.In these 3 movies you have unusually powerful character studies.We are all pretty much movie addicts I suppose...I w3onder if anyone reads these reviews....Well...ifg you are glancing at this and you like character driven movies...do yourself a favor and see this and if you like it see the other 2 I mentioned. I'm not particularly arrogant or overconfident but I know a t6hing or 2....You just can't miss with this movie.....

earl-bosch Seems atheist hates the movie and believers don't, yet the movie does not choose either side. It tries to show both as hopeless cases of being converted to the other. Yet in the end, if you take the sum of their lives, who's live would you choose: The easy, rich, intellectual who only looks after himself and has no reason to live. Or the very dramatic, traumatic, poor person who spends all his time looking after other totally useless people, but enjoys every moment of being alive. From that point of view its easy to understand why atheist would hate this movie. But if an atheist ever wants to know why he can't convince a true believer, he should watch this movie.

nickelreviews There is only black and white in this movie and much debate. Two men with two totally opposite beliefs on life and the reasons for living. Not very many people online have commented on their opinion of this movie. The day I write this, Rotten Tomatoes has yet to unveil its rating. Single shot camera action is very difficult. Working with only one other person on one set is very difficult. Tommy Lee Jones wore three hats on this production as actor, director, and producer. I knew about 3 minutes into this film that they were never gonna leave the set. There's not very many actors that can pull off an hour and 30 minutes of just talking to each other in the same small space. This movie was neither fun, nor entertaining to watch, yet it took me much longer to finish because I kept going back to hear what the characters were saying to each other over and over again. I got an education about things I don't necessarily care about while watching this, but it was fascinating all the same. I had to stop half way through to put some pieces together, and think about my own life for a minute. It reminded me of Tape (2001) directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke, Sean Leonard Scott, and Uma Thurman. It was filmed in the same manner yet with 3 characters instead of 2. It was not without its fair share of critical acclaim. A feat I hope The Sunset Limited can one day day claim for itself. Reviewed by AN/NR 02-15-12