W.Main Players: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, et al.
Calling the shots: Oliver Stone
Running time: 129mins
What's it about? A chronicle on the life and presidency of George W. Bush. - from imdb.com
What did I think? What a shame. There are so many things going for this film, it is such a shame that it is what it is. It is the most boring-interesting movie I have seen in a long time. Some of the performances are mighty impressive and other not so. We are all interested in the presidency that was Dubya, but this movie doesn’t do anything to shed any light on it.
First the good parts I suppose. Josh Brolin (possibly one of my fave actors at the moment) is spot on as Dubya. His mannerisms and speech patterns are so perfect, you forget that he’s not really Bush. He essentially looks like him, without looking like him. He is ably supported by an impressive cast, some of whom do better (Cromwell, Burstyn, Glenn, Dreyfuss, Jones, Banks) than others (Newton, Wright, Gruffudd).
The problem lies in the structure and plot. Apparently this movie was churned out really quickly, in time for the US elections last year, and because of that it seems like it came out of the oven too early. Oliver Stone’s movies are often hit and miss, but when it is something about the US, he usually has a lot to say. Not so in this one, we leave the theatre wondering what the point was.
As if to emphasis that point, all of Bush’s Bushisms are in this movie but not at times when he actually said them. We hear the “misunderestimated me” line as well as the “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…we can’t get fooled again!” line. We also see his pretzel choking incident. But it’s almost like it’s in there for the sake of being in there. Not for the story.
That’s the other issue. We see flashbacks to his earlier days that doesn’t seem to make all that much sense in the scheme of things, except to show that he was essentially a drunken Texan. It would have been better had it come a little later, and if the movie had concentrated more on his presidency. As it is at the moment, it’s rather disappointing.
40%
1 comment:
Hey Ippei!
Hope you had a good flight back!
Hey I caught the film yesterday in S'pore (one and only time it will be screened), but the amazing thing was this screening was followed by a Q&A with Oliver Stone! It was a surprise screening that was only advertised yesterday!
In the Q&A, Stone really came across as a Bush hater, even almost an American policy hater. And I think the theme and structure of the movie, even not explicitly bashing Bush, portrayed him very negatively.
Stone saw the movie in three acts-
Act 1-Quote "The prodigal son" Unquote: drunk, cocky and stupid son does dumb things to the dismay of the father.
Act 2- Quote"The prodigal son returns...cept that he's still no good" Unquote- born again, sober and thinking he's on a mission for God. But Bush's ego and need to outdo his 'poppy' is his falling. Stone even goes as far as to say that Bush wasnt really born again due to his self centre nature.
Act 3- Quote"Icarus" Unquote: like the Greek character who builds wings and flies to the sun only to come crashing to his death, Bush bit off more than he can chew by becoming president, and creating dire consequences for the world.
Though Stone says the film was objective, it is hard to believe that even the chosen themes do not betray a bias from him towards Bush. Stone says he wasn't out to bash Bush but to let his behaviour 'hang' himself- one wonders if the flashbacks were mainly to show how much of a failure Bush was.
Alternatively, if this was actually how Bush was as a college grad thru to President, one wonders how screwed up politics in America is!
Joa
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