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Killing of John Lennon Is So-So
Critics praise the craft, but question the subject matter
By Nick McMaster
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Posted Jan 2, 08 9:08 PM CST
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(Newser)
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Critics are decidedly mixed on "The Killing of John Lennon," Andrew Piddington's movie reconstructing events surrounding Mark David Chapman's 1980 murder of the Beatles beloved frontman. While “a well-made film" that doesn't ask you to sympathize with Chapman, Stephen Holden writes in the New York Times, “it requires you to spend nearly two hours in his disturbing company,” which ends up being “a total bummer.”
The Times' of London's James Christopher compliments: “There’s a hypnotic beauty about the way the director shoots the story through Chapman’s eyes.” The most scathing criticisms target the decision to make the film at all: “Chapman was on a simple, skewed quest for infamy. One gathers he’d be chuffed to see this film. And that’s the biggest issue of all,” writes TimeOut's Derek Adams.