MovieChat Forums > The Program (2016) Discussion > Very disappointed

Very disappointed

posted 9 years ago by KazKazui
3 replies | jump to latest

Well, I think some of the race scenes and the acting was good (besides Ferrari, who often acted like a mad scientist straight out of some cheap horror movie). However, Ben Foster was perfect and I also liked the soundtrack.

BUT, this movie felt so sloppy and overhasty. Well, okay, he's not fast enough so he takes drugs. Oh sh*t, the dude has cancer... no big deal, he's healed soon after. Okay, he takes drugs again. Hey, did he just win the tour? Oh, he gets married. His wife just disappears. He quits, makes a comeback, gets caught. End of story.
Yes, we know that all this happend. But there was just no emotion, no tension, no character development. All happend like: bang! bang! bang! Characters appeared and vanished, everything happend way too fast, without any dramaturgy. It was like watching a documentary with actors - or no, I've seen documentaries with more emotion and tension. I've seen "Rush" not long ago and this movie shows how to make a movie like this right, while "The Program" fails on so many levels. I really expected more.

[–] andyd-1 9 years ago

There's a lot to pack in. Actually Armstrong did have a wife he wrote about, and she did seem to vanish and be replaced by a music star, then she vanished - he was rumoured to have an affair with a woman publicist who made threatening phonecalls - was that covered?

see there's too much to cover in under 2 hours! I'm glad it isn't 210 minutes long though

[–] snowleopard 9 years ago

I agree with you. I think they tried to cram way too much about his life in here. It would have made more sense to me if they had started the film when Landis joined it, and ended it with his confession, which brought everything down.

Now that I think about it, the real story here is Landis, not Armstrong. There ended up being no redeeming quality about Lance. But Landis story about an overly energized Mennonite boy, to cyclist, to going with "the program" and then having enough morals left to tell the truth. That's the real dramatic story.

[–] KazKazui 9 years ago

That's true, Armstrong had no character arc. Interesting angle, I can see it. I think this would be a way better movie.