To say, this is the first and only Tarkovsky film I've seen for the time being. It was pretty damn good but it has it's faults. I'll start by saying the positive factors.
The film has an excellent sinister and mysterious atmosphere/mood that is developed sublimely throughout and makes you want to keep watching. The direction from Tarkovsky as he guides through this visionary world into the Zone through the conflict and relationships between the characters is superb. The acting is also very convincing and interesting to watch as their characters develop, save for the over-the-top excessive performance from the stalker's wife. The film also creates a great deal of mystery around the Zone, through the several disappearances of past visitors as well as its unnatural forces, which is intriguingly powerful to watch. The camera-work is also simply perfect, creating many memorable and unique mixture of tracking and still shots.
Now onto the negative points. The film is extremely slow paced which at times was quite compelling as it created a great deal of tension but at some points, certain scenes and shots went on for too long needlessly or became slightly dull. 2001: A Space Odyssey had a similar pace yet it never ceased to be interesting for a moment; the same cannot be said for Stalker. Now onto my biggest and most significant problem. The film, despite being well crafted for the main part, seemed like it wasn't exactly sure of what it was trying to say overall. It had a great build up and everything but concluded in an anti-climactic fashion as it didn't end on a strong note or left any last compelling or unforgettable sequences (especially in the Zone); also the journey of all the characters seemed kind of pointless by the end.
I may be mistaken and may see something new in Stalker if I ever re- watch it when I'm older but for now, all I can say is it's a very well made film in many aspects but it lacks good pacing, can become often too slow and most importantly doesn't have a true point or purpose to the journey of the characters or the story itself overall. Throughout I was often compelled though but from the last part of the film and by the end I found myself going ''Was that it?'' Although I am still interested to see Tarkovsky's other work. This one - worth watching but didn't see the masterpiece that I've heard so much about. 7.5-8/10.
The film has an excellent sinister and mysterious atmosphere/mood that is developed sublimely throughout and makes you want to keep watching. The direction from Tarkovsky as he guides through this visionary world into the Zone through the conflict and relationships between the characters is superb. The acting is also very convincing and interesting to watch as their characters develop, save for the over-the-top excessive performance from the stalker's wife. The film also creates a great deal of mystery around the Zone, through the several disappearances of past visitors as well as its unnatural forces, which is intriguingly powerful to watch. The camera-work is also simply perfect, creating many memorable and unique mixture of tracking and still shots.
Now onto the negative points. The film is extremely slow paced which at times was quite compelling as it created a great deal of tension but at some points, certain scenes and shots went on for too long needlessly or became slightly dull. 2001: A Space Odyssey had a similar pace yet it never ceased to be interesting for a moment; the same cannot be said for Stalker. Now onto my biggest and most significant problem. The film, despite being well crafted for the main part, seemed like it wasn't exactly sure of what it was trying to say overall. It had a great build up and everything but concluded in an anti-climactic fashion as it didn't end on a strong note or left any last compelling or unforgettable sequences (especially in the Zone); also the journey of all the characters seemed kind of pointless by the end.
I may be mistaken and may see something new in Stalker if I ever re- watch it when I'm older but for now, all I can say is it's a very well made film in many aspects but it lacks good pacing, can become often too slow and most importantly doesn't have a true point or purpose to the journey of the characters or the story itself overall. Throughout I was often compelled though but from the last part of the film and by the end I found myself going ''Was that it?'' Although I am still interested to see Tarkovsky's other work. This one - worth watching but didn't see the masterpiece that I've heard so much about. 7.5-8/10.