JFK

Quite possibly the most inspirational film you'll ever see. On the other hand, it's by all accounts Stone's total magnum opus, with by far the best last line in a film, delivered by an appealingly unflappable idealist with the face of Kevin Costner. It's a hell of a job to make a politically engaged film that doesn't come across as mainstream and is as believable as possible. I wouldn’t say I agree with Stone's complete interpretation, but the overall scope and form of his historical research is breathtaking. (03/04/2020)

If I were to add an adjective to JFK, it definitely wouldn't be the best Stone film. But it might deserve the adjective that it is the most personal film. Oliver Stone simply fulfilled his dream and made a film about a topic that interests him the most in modern American history. The film is made with obvious enthusiasm, passionately, and even obsessively. And I don't think it's a good thing. Stone lacks distance and falls into paranoid constructions. In the early 90s, I studied the assassination of Kennedy and read everything that was available in our country. It's like this - if you don't care about seriousness in America, you deal with conspiracy theories about Area 51 and ufology, from which Spielberg himself drew inspiration for his popular culture blockbusters, and if you want to appear serious, you deal with the Kennedy assassination and construct the craziest conspiracies. Oliver Stone understandably chose only the materials that support his theories from a vast amount of material. However, there are just as many clues that break down his idea. I dare not say that I know how everything happened, but in the end, the idea that Oswald acted alone seems more likely than any other version. If anything is really true, it is that the US government administration showed itself in a really bad light, whether it's the security measures before the assassination or the course of the investigation itself. But searching for a devilish conspiracy in all of this reeks of purposefulness. If any myth deserves to be ruthlessly shattered, it is primarily the idea of the "president of truth" that Stone works with. The popular sitcom Red Dwarf provocatively works with the idea in one of its episodes that the assassination will be thwarted and it leads to a disaster because Kennedy, weakened by constant social scandals from numerous love affairs and ties to the mafia, will not be able to steer America. Of course, it is a comedic exaggeration, but with a real basis. With the passage of time, it can be said that Kennedy was not different from his presidential colleagues and had more than enough scandals on his hands. For me, the film is unbearable in terms of length and especially its conspiratorial paranoid character. In JFK, I see the beginning of the pollution of the public space with the most stupid conspiracy theories imaginable. The mechanism that Stone used has only been recycled since then. Overall impression: 60%. (12/16/2015)

The prime suspect in the Kennedy assassination? Oliver Stone!:-) I didn't know much about the incident in question, I never doubted the rottenness of the American government, and yet the film managed to captivate and appeal to me to such an extent that I look forward to 2029 to see the revelation of all the information by the CIA, even though I’ll be fifteen years older and bald by then. Anyway, with this film, Stone not only reaffirmed to me that he is an extravagant who has no problem with three hours full of dialogue, but with his offensive speech he put in my head a rather clear view of American democracy, defined solely by the malice of the powerful (and the gay:-)) and the vision of self-interest. Also, fitting perfectly among all this "crap" are the loving husband and tenacious detective Kevin Costner, the smarmy villain Gary Oldman, the male-loving Tommy Lee Jones and the usual suspect Joe Pesci, whose great performances only add to the quality and historical value of JFK. 95% (08/31/2013)

It doesn't matter at all whether what is presented here is actually true or just one of many conspiracy theories. The way everything is presented, the strong acting performances - Sissy Spacek has never been more beautiful - you will still be left with a strong impression, especially that we are just puppets. Oliver Stone in top form. (02/25/2016)

At a time when Stone didn’t like American "high society" at all, this (at the time) most controversial Hollywood character proved to be an excellent fabricator with a sense of demagoguery that the viewer has no problem believing in. Stone dealt with the controversial topic in his own way, which may well be considered a true reconstruction until 2038 when the Warren Report is to be declassified. Although his leftist mindset oozes from the film at every moment, the aesthetics of the film's narrative are so evocative that we can set aside our own thoughts for three hours and be swept away by the director's analysis of the case conducted on the basis of a conspiracy thriller. The great editing blurs the distinction between documentary and cinematic fiction, and although the film is crammed with dialogue (and a final monologue by the brilliant Kevin Costner), it’s never boring. And even if three hours may seem like too much, when it's over, Stone makes the viewer feel like they've just untied the Gordian Knot. And yet... in the end, not that much gets resolved. (09/04/2006)