Slapstick will never be my thing, what sets Keaton's films apart is their (secondary) focus on stunts and action. The choreographies of Keaton's stunt work remain impressive, making his oeuvre way more palatable than that of his peers.
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Less focus on romance means more time for comedy and stunts. Go West is another illustration of Keaton's strengths and weaknesses. Even though it's one of his longer films, it never runs out of steam. Keaton himself is amusing, his companion is too and the build-up is pretty solid. One of Keaton's finer films.
A film with two distinct halves. The first part is a pretty lame and predictable romantic comedy, the second part is more vintage Keaton, with lots of crazy stunts and gags. It shows that Keaton is a little limited, on the other hand his stunt work is still impressive to this day. Watch it for the finale, it's worth it.
Though largely focused on comedy, the three eras offer the needed variation to keep this film interesting. There are some stunts, and while well executed they don't really hold up against Keaton's best work. The comedy on the other hand ranges from passable to cheesy and outdated. Three Ages is rather short and at times amusing, but also a little repetitive and outdone by Keaton's better films.
One of Keaton's weaker films, despite its strong reputation. It's a film that puts a bit more focus on the plot (which isn't much to look at) and the comedy (which is pretty basic), and keeps the spectacular tricks until very late in the second half. By then, I'd already lost most of my interest. William Canfield owns an old boat, his biggest competitor just bought a state of the art one. William is waiting to see his son after graduating, hoping he might help him out on the boat. He is sorely disappointed when his son turns out to be a scrawny little fella. Even so, he takes him on board as part of his crew. I like Keaton for his spectacular action sequences, and the finale delivers in that regard. Not quite up there with his most impressive work, but there are some inspired moments that come off pretty nifty. The comedy is very stale though and the pacing is pretty uneven too. I expected more from this one.Read all
A Keaton film that focuses on comedy and romance. Without Keaton's stunts I'm not that interested in his films, short as they may be, though I have to admit that there are some rather cool shots spread throughout. Sadly these moments are quite rare and the comedy is pretty poor and extremely predictable. Definitely not his best work.
When Keaton cuts down on stunts, the quality of his work drops significantly. He's a decent comedy actor, but his films are way too simple and the comedy too predictable to make much of an impact. Battling Butler is one of Keaton's lesser works, only a handful scenes brought up a smile, the rest was negligible.
Like most Keaton films, Our Hospitality takes a while to get up to speed. The first half isn't great, then again I'm not a fan of Keaton the comedian. Luckily he pivots to more stunt-based scenes in the second half, though it's clear that is one of his earlier films. It's not as exciting, but it's short and still pretty impressive for its age.
A Keaton film that is mostly comedy and romance. The big stunts and ingenious action scenes are nowhere to be found, which makes it extra clear that Keaton's work is highly dependent on them. The Navigator is rather dull and lifeless, a film that offers little more than a tired old romance and some scruffy comedy routines. For me the worst Keaton film so far.