On paper, Whiplash (now available to stream on Prime Video) sounds – if you’ll pardon the music-based pun – awful. On screen, however, it is an astonishing piece of theatrical melodrama. To suggest Full metal jacket but instead of Vietnam, the battlefield here is jazz. Or, what about One flew over the cuckoo’s nest is set in a music school, instead of a hospital.
Wait, where are you going? Coming back! Let me explain.
Whiplash is a deceptively simple story: it tells the story of Andrew (Miles Teller), a young student drummer chosen for the best band at the music school, and the teacher who wants him to be excellent. But that teacher is Fletcher, played by JK Simmons (Invinciblethe Tobey Maguire Spider-Man film trilogy) – and Fletcher is more of a terrifying drill sergeant than any teacher. All that matters to Fletcher is the music, and if the right music means tearing his student apart, then that’s the price of perfection.
Is Whiplash worth watching on Prime Video?
Certainly. Here is GQwhose reviewer simply tells you, “Go check it out Whiplash. It’s that simple. Whiplash is incredible. I really can’t believe how good Whiplash is. I can’t stop telling people about it Whiplash.”
That’s largely due to the vicious, tough, but incredibly talented performance that Simmons delivers. Indeed he is One flew by…‘s Nurse Ratched with a conductor’s baton, with The New Yorker He describes his performance as follows: ‘Simmons is as tight as a piano wire, trembling with impatience and intolerance… What gives Damien Chazelle’s film verve is not so much the appeal of jazz as the power struggle between master and student, plus a rare honesty about the costs of the craze for excellence.”
rich was similarly effusive in its praise, with the writer opining: “In the tradition of great thrillers, it has an ordinary man trying to defeat a much tougher foe, and like great sports films, it has a rookie who wants to win it all. It just finds those things in a place where no one normally looks.” Sure, the plot sounds rather dull, but, Empire’s reviewer adds, “watch the film and it will leave you elated, exhausted and cheering for an encore.”
Need more proof that Whiplash is unmissable on one of the world’s best streaming services? Look no further than the critical and audience scores Rotten tomatoes, both of which are at a more than healthy 94%. If that’s not proof enough that it’s a stunning piece of cinema – a piece of cinema that also deserves a place on our list of the best Prime Video films – I don’t know what is.