Dreadfully Boring

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The plot neatly follows through the classics of a competition documentary, highlighting more than one individuals with stories worth telling. They are competing in the movie's competition which is relatively new to the rest of the world due to it being a niche market at the moment. I really like how the documentary nicely captures the views from people from different nationalities. This brings enough legitimacy to the thing being focused about, the world of competitive gaming in general and the game DOTA2 in particular. What I think is quite lacking is instead the on-screen footage of how the teams win their games and the spirit of competition within the game. For the rest is really an eye opener since the movie reveals facts of different treatments gamers receive in different countries.

Telling the lives of 3 of the best players in "The International", a great e-sports tournament. Sadly that makes this film only about DoTA 2, not covering other games with its incredible and different gaming scenes. Anyways, is a great storytelling about how they make themselves gamers in a world that scarcely sees games as a competitive area or a sport as is treated chess or poker. A great insight of the risks and even the importance of determination by the player, nice made film.It would be a way better film if it treated the three big types of F2P games: free "hardcore" games (as is DoTA 2), social games (Facebook and the similar) and free casual games (as iOS/Android) Feels even kind of propagandish for the game as "the best F2P game", but its true that doesn't lies about the different outcomes of the three gamers and its problems.6 of 10

This film gives you a great insight into the world of e-sports and its rise in popularity. What used to be considered as a basement dweller's hobby is on its way to become a recognized, legitimate sport. And in some countries, this already is the case. More importantly, however, the film allows you to follow the lives of three professional gamers on their way to "the international", a Dota 2 tournament whose victors would receive the highest prize money for a gaming event at that time: one million dollars. You get to experience the pressure they undergo in the face of the tournament, but also their struggle for recognition with their families. What their peers consider a waste of time could in fact end up make those kids millionaires and celebrities. From the beginning to the end, the film grips you tight and does send you on a roller coaster of thrill, anticipation, excitement and also disappointment, sadness and reflection. You feel for and with the people in Free to Play, also thanks to a great job in editing and scoring. Even if you are not familiar with Dota 2 or the e-sports scene in general, I would highly recommend watching this film as it opens both the world of e-sports and the private lives of those 3 gamers. And it's definitely worth a watch.

Great documentary about the topic e-sports and the actual players behind it. The focus lies on 3 professional dota2 players (Dendi, hyhy and fear) and their way to, and eventually in, the biggest e-sports-tournament (1000.000$ prize pool), back to the date in 2011, but focuses not only on their gaming career but also on their familiar background and displays the flaws and positive aspects of the correlation. A further aspect is the difference between the 3 protagonists and their motivation which led them to gaming. I really sympathized with them in the end.The movie was very well shot and got me easily entertained through the 75 minutes, although it was a little bit overly clichéd sometimes (keyword: hyhy's relationship) and people could say that the movie polarizes a bit, but that's only nitpicking. Though the international was nearly 3 years ago, I still got goosebumps by watching this and its also nice to see that e-sports is getting more and more of a deal. Beside the fact that serious documentaries about this topic are hard to come by these days, I would definitely recommend it. 9/10