Awful is too harsh a word for this unappetizing mess, but it is certainly a train wreck of a movie. Other adjectives come to mind-- "didactic" will be used in about half of professional reviews. "Unfortunate" is another, which is a kind way of saying "bad". The film would have us believe that everything we're seeing, in three different locations, is taking place at the same time, and pretty much in real time. That would be clever if plausible, but in this cause the conceit seems simply contrived. The claustrophobic nature of the movie-- maybe half the film has two people on camera at once-- makes it seem as though it were a play, and a badly written one at that. There is a certain something to the fx, and it's not a good thing-- it seems as though several parts were shot in video and then spliced on to the rest. This wouldn't be a bad thing if it were intended, but I don't think it is, and it's jarring. There are some other implausible parts of the film which I can't mention here, but in a film that tries to be tight, having the audience go "Whoa, how did *that* happen!" is not a good thing. Redford is great on camera-- we like to look at him, he has a great voice, and his eyes still have that remarkable, defining quality that makes this guy The Robert Redford-- not just another actor. But Cruise is on autopilot, which seems to be all he has left anyway. For him, it's all smoke and mirrors and there is no there there any more, if there ever was. Streep is fine, though I don't think she wears this role very well. For those expecting another Devil Wears Prada sort of performance, you'll have to wait. This is not that. It's too bad. I don't think this movie will persuade anyone, and make no mistake, this movie was intended to Sway Public Opinion. But if that's the case, the people who imagined this film got it wrong from the outset, because the people who would be drawn to seeing this movie are much smarter than the authors think they are, and you can't talk down to people more clever than you.
Review of Lions for Lambs
