Whiplash is a 2014 film directed by Damien Chazelle, and starring J.K Simmons and Miles Teller. It follows an aspiring young drummer who’s worked to the extreme by his abusi e band conductor. This movie is incredibly intense, and also an an excellent film.

Whiplash focuses around Andrew Neiman, a freshmen drummer at the Schaffer Conservatory for music. There, he is invited into the extremely selective and prized studio band, led by the intense and famed conductor, Terrence Fletcher. Over time, Fletcher abuses Andrew so much that drumming essentially consumes his life, and it results in some dire consequences.

Overall, the best aspect about this movie is the acting. None of the characters are written to be very likable, even Andrew himself is an arrogant self-righteous idiot. But the acting by both Miles Teller and J.K Simmons makes the audience care about the characters. J.K Simmons especially is absolutely amazing. He manages to go from 0-100 in a split second, and can transition from being incredibly scary to being very likable on a dime. It’s no wonder he won an academy award for his performance in this movie. Miles Teller is good, and he works just fine for the role. But, he isn’t given as many opportunities in the script to really shine as much as Simmons does. That being said, he displays a wide range of believable emotions, and he deserves commendation not only for that, but also the fact that he apparently had to practice 4 hours a day, three times a week to play drums in this movie, and he’s been playing drums since he was 15. Additionally, he was fully committed even behind the scenes, Teller was often actually bleeding while playing drums, and in the famous “slap” scene, J.K Simmons genuinely slapped him.

However, not all things in whiplash are intense and amazing. It can feel a little half-baked at times. Particularly within the relationships between characters. No one is really given enough time on screen for them to develop a visible relationship for the audience. The only chemistry within this movie is that of Fletcher abusing Andrew, beyond that there’s really nothing. And that means that once you get over the initial shock and awe of the drums and brutality the film presents, you notice there really isn’t anything backing it up.

Overall, despite feeling a little half-baked with it’s character relationships, whiplash is absolutely a great film. It has some truly incredible, and truly scary sequences, and it undoubtedly deserves a watch.