Truth

For F*** Magazine

TRUTH

Director : James Vanderbilt
Cast : Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Elizabeth Moss, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach
Genre : Biography/Drama
Run Time : 126 mins
Opens : 17 March 2016
Rating : M18 (Some Nudity And Coarse Language)

The Bible tells us that “the truth shall set you free”, but there are times when it can feel like the truth can hold you prisoner, as Cate Blanchett finds out in this drama. Blanchett plays Mary Mapes, the producer of CBS’ primetime news program 60 Minutes Wednesday. In the months leading up to the 2004 presidential election, 60 Minutes airs a story about President George W. Bush receiving preferential treatment from his superiors at the Texas Air National Guard, with memos allegedly authored by Bush’s commander Lt. Col. Jerry Killian as proof. Mapes, her team and veteran news anchor and 60 Minutes presenter Dan Rather (Redford) come under fire after the program is aired, with multiple viewers calling the veracity of the documents procured by 60 Minutes into question. Rather, hitherto a widely respected figure in broadcast news, finds his reputation threatened as Mapes scrambles to defend herself and prove that 60 Minutes did not lie to the American public.

            Truth is based on Mapes’ 2005 memoir entitled “Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.” Writer/director James Vanderbilt adapted the book for the screen and he makes his directorial debut with this film. Because Mapes’ account of events is the primary source, it cannot be expected that Truth is an objective depiction of the Killian Documents controversy, which came to be colloquially known as “Memogate” and “Rathergate”. The 60 Minutes story was one of the first pieces of investigative broadcast journalism to be dissected and torn apart online by bloggers and CBS was blasted for apparently exhibiting a liberal bias by running the anti-Bush story without thoroughly verifying these documents. Somewhere in there, there’s a gripping tale of the profound responsibility that journalists must uphold and Truth did get this reviewer invested in Mapes’ journey, but the film is pervaded with a sense of heavy-handed portentousness and turns out to be far less incisive than it thinks it is.

            Contrary to its title, Truth can’t help but feel phony at times. While this is a slicker, better-made film than many directorial debuts, Vanderbilt’s attempts to drum up the excitement and establish grave stakes feel slightly overblown. One of the culprits is Brian Tyler’s musical score, which heaves with bombast and sounds like something out of Air Force One. Quaid plays Col. Roger Charles, a member of Mapes’ investigative team, and it seems his primary function is to dispense exposition. There is a cringe-worthy scene set in a plane in which Charles explains to freelance reporter Mike Smith (Grace) that Mapes’ father physically abused her and that Mapes sees Rather as a father figure. There are also so many “what have I done?” moments in which realization dawns on Mapes that the scandal has taken another terrible turn, that it borders on self-parody.

            Vanderbilt’s trump card is his cast, especially lead performers Blanchett and Redford who are expectedly excellent. In spite of how many times the story trips over itself, the duo carries it to the finish line in tandem. Blanchett’s Mapes is doggedly persistent and suffers no fools, someone who is dedicated to her job and witnesses her life’s work crumbling around her. Truth would very much obviously like us to take Mapes’ side, and Blanchett’s portrayal of her ensures that we do – at least up until the movie ends and we start reflecting on the proceedings in-depth. Redford bears little physical resemblance to the famous newsman, and when playing someone so recognisable, perhaps physical resemblance should count for something. However, he has no trouble at all creating a warm, trustworthy and respectable figure and the interaction between Redford and Blanchett does possess a degree of heart.

            The rest of the characters are disappointingly two-dimensional; propping up the story as it progresses – Grace is the comic relief, lying on the couch, tossing a baseball in the air and asking the rest of the people in the room “you guys feel like pizza?” Quaid, as mentioned earlier, recaps things “as you know”-style for the audience. Moss, as associate producer Lucy Scott, has precious little to do. The various CBS higher-ups grumble/yell at Mapes and her team, occasionally flinging objects across the room in frustration. It turns out that securing Blanchett and Redford is a casting coup not just because they’re talented actors but because there’s little else to recommend in the film beyond them.

            Truth is made with polish but lacks finesse, an indignant cry that is far from altogether convincing in making us re-evaluate the events of over 10 years ago. The film desperately wants viewers to see Mapes and Rather as righteous martyrs laying their careers on the line and going down with their ship, a point of view that CBS has slammed. It’s not a case of “here are the facts; draw your own conclusions” because of the side the film takes, but the look behind the scenes at the politics of journalistic ethics, however flawed, is nonetheless fascinating. Perhaps Vanderbilt did as a good a job as possible with the stipulation that Mapes and Rather must be portrayed as the good guys, but then again, it feels like the title “Truth?” would be a better fit.

Summary: Truth is clumsy, preachy and Oscar-baity, not entirely successful in convincing viewers that its protagonists’ lapses in judgement were justifiable and forgivable. However, it’s impossible to overlook Blanchett and Redford’s stellar performances.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Good Kill

For F*** Magazine

GOOD KILL

Director : Andrew Niccol

Cast : Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Zoë Kravitz, Bruce Greenwood, Jake Abel, Peter Coyote, Alma Sisneros, Alma Sisneros

Genre : Drama/Thriller

Run Time : 102 mins

Opens : 28 May 2015

Rating : NC-16 (Coarse Language and Sexual Scenes)

            “The war machine keeps turning” – so sang Black Sabbath in their antiwar anthem “War Pigs”. In the 21^st century, the war machine has evolved and the last several years have seen an increase in the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in warzones. Major Thomas Egan (Hawke) is a U.S. Air Force pilot who has been flying UAVs since the demand for manned fighter jets has decreased. It seems like a cushy job, flying the drones via remote control from a base in Las Vegas, far from the thick of it. However, Egan has become disillusioned and longs to be back in the air for real. His work takes a toll on his relationship with his wife Molly (Jones) and when his new co-pilot Vera Suarez (Kravitz) realises the job involves more than she’s bargained for, Egan begins to question the nature of his missions. When the unit is ordered to run ethically dubious missions for the CIA, even Colonel Jack Johns (Greenwood), whom Egan and Suarez answer to, has second thoughts of his own.

            The relationship between Hollywood and the military is a fascinating one. Hollywood is perceived as being run by liberals, but maintaining ties with the military and portraying them in a positive light is key to getting permits and clearances for filming on military installations or gaining privileged access to equipment and personnel. There was even a recent superhero movie that ran army recruitment ads in the theatre before the feature. Good Kill is written and directed by Andrew Niccol, who helmed the underrated, searing arms dealer drama Lord of War. Niccol’s best works, like Lord of War and sci-fi flick Gattaca, examine relevant sociopolitical issues in addition to being stylish and entertaining. Drone warfare is as topical as it gets – the collateral damage resulting from a covert drone strike was recently a major plot point in the fourth season of TV series Homeland. Good Kill spells out its themes in the biggest, blockiest letters available. Watching drone pilots cooped up in a small box flying missions from thousands of miles away does sound somewhat boring, and perhaps this lack of subtlety is compensation for it.

            Niccol takes particular relish in juxtaposing the shiny decadence of the Las Vegas Strip with the life-and-death stakes of the Air Force drone missions being controlled just a few miles out from the casinos and strip clubs, the partygoers oblivious to the war on terror being waged from next door. He has succeeded in creating a war movie unlike any before it, presenting post-traumatic stress disorder and the questioning of authority in a new look but with the same queasy flavour. The disconnect is a big part of it - the targets on the ground are mostly faceless, but so is the ominous voice of Langley, Viriginia over the speakerphone, the CIA portrayed as a shadowy éminence grise. Colonel Jack Johns, played by Bruce Greenwood, gives a big bravura speech to a gaggle of recruits that is gloriously on the nose but yet not out of place in the context of the film. With lines like “this aircraft isn’t the future of war. This is the here and f***ing now” and “war is now a first-person shooter”, the audience is brought up to speed with the changing landscape of combat in layman’s terms, and there’s also the sense that the Colonel is desperately trying to convince himself.

            Ethan Hawke is on a roll following his Oscar nomination for Boyhood, Good Kill reuniting him with Niccol, who directed the actor in Gattaca and Lord of War. Hawke has the unique challenge of playing a shell-shocked soldier who never steps foot into the battlefield and the film is carried by the tormented humanity he imbues the character with. Bruce Greenwood brings his trademark blend of paternal warmth and no-nonsense grit to the role of Colonel Johns, who despite moments like the abovementioned speech, is never a stereotypically over-the-top hard-ass. Unfortunately, January Jones’ character Molly is every bit the stock type of the nagging wife who doesn’t understand the psychological torment her husband suffers as a result of his occupation, even with the requisite scenes that are meant to make her sympathetic. Zoë Kravitz’s Vera Suarez is an archetype as well, the recruit who has her idealism broken down piece by piece. She handles the emotional beats well and is excellent opposite Hawke.

            Good Kill has a lot to say and it does seem like Niccol has taken the effort in understanding the various sides of the drone warfare argument. However, it doesn’t quite need 104 minutes to say what it does and while it is bereft of the raw bombast of most war films, it is still painted in very broad strokes. Even with these shortcomings, the film still is adequately unsettling, tense and moving.

Summary: A different breed of war film, Good Kill can get heavy-handed and repetitive in its exploration of the moral implications of drone warfare, but still has its powerful moments and is anchored by a superb leading performance from Ethan Hawke.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

            

Flight

For F*** Magazine

FLIGHT

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Denzel Washington, Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Run Time: 138 mins
Opens: 21 February 2013
Rating: M18 - Nudity And Drug Use

There was a time when flying was considered glamourous and exciting, the kind of thing Frank Sinatra songs were made of. “A brand new way to travel”, as it were. Today, getting on a plane is very much a part of regular life for many; sometimes inconvenient, sometimes frightening. Much of the awe of air travel has gradually eroded away, and these days, it seems like more of a necessity than a luxury. Still, it’s sobering to realise that every time we get on a plane, we put our lives in the hands of its pilots.

Denzel Washington plays one such pilot, named William “Whip” Whitaker. Unfortunately, “sober” is not quite in his dictionary, and after a night of alcohol, cocaine and sex, he takes the controls of a SouthJet airliner bound from Orlando to Atlanta. All of a sudden, the plane goes into a steep dive, and Whip is able to perform a risky manoeuver: rolling the plane upside down so it levels off, and turning it right side up again for a crash landing in a field, saving most of the souls on board.



In the hospital, Whip is greeted by his old friend Charlie (Greenwood), a pilot’s union representative. He also meets Nicole (Reilly), a desperate drug and alcohol addict who had just passed out from an overdose. Whip tries to avoid the media attention he has gained since landing the plane, and is informed by Charlie and attorney Hugh Lang (Cheadle) that he could face prison time based on a toxicology report that reveals he was intoxicated during the flight. Whip begins to spiral back into his old ways as those around him try to get him to pull himself back together in time for a National Transit Safety Board hearing.

Flight’s premise is intriguing in that a film would typically wrap up with its hero saving the day, but here, that’s just the jumping-off point and we get to examine what happens to said “hero” after the day is saved. The film also marks director Robert Zemeckis’ return to the land of the living, after a good ten years spent making dead-eyed CGI motion capture animation films. Zemeckis is well-remembered for such popular classics as the Back to the Future films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump, so it’s good to see him back working in live action where he belongs.



Flight begins with a plane crash scene that is even more harrowing than the one Zemeckis put onscreen in Cast Away. This is the movie’s major set piece, and it’s brilliantly shot, imbued with an unsettling sense of familiarity in addition to danger and urgency. As the plane violently flips over and passengers tumble about in the cabin, you might just want to hang on to your armrests. You probably won’t see this as an in-flight movie soon, is all we’re saying.

However, Flight is not a disaster movie. It’s not an action movie, it’s not even a mystery thriller. It’s a good old-fashioned character study, a small, intimate film in a bigger movie’s clothes (or pilot uniform) – though those clothes happen to fit it quite well. Everything hinges on Denzel Washington as Whip Whitaker, a character whose name is probably inspired by Sully Sullenberger, a pilot who successfully landed an airliner on the Hudson River. It’s safe to assume that that is the extent of the inspiration, as Whip is a hard-drinking, somewhat arrogant rogue, though Washington’s magnetism ensures we never look away and are always rooting for him. This turns out to be a compelling portrait of someone dealing with addiction, and the impact substance abuse can have on someone and those around him. The film is never too heavy-handed in its approach and doesn’t come off as a public service announcement. Washington too never overplays the part, and the result is well deserving of the Best Actor Oscar nomination he’s gained.



Washington is assisted by a fine supporting cast. Nicole appears to be in a much worse place in her life than Whip is, on the verge of being evicted from her apartment and implied to be prostituting herself to sustain her drug habit. Kelly Reilly subtly conveys the fragility of the character without turning her into a “damsel in distress”, and we become invested in her relationship with Whip. Bruce Greenwood is always dependable as the kind authority figure, and Don Cheadle is also good as the hardworking attorney, so we end up pulling for the two to get Whip straightened out. John Goodman very nearly steals the show as Whip’s easy-going drug dealer, a role that this reviewer is almost certain was written for Jeff Bridges.

The movie’s ending does stretch credibility and several pilots have decried the film, saying someone in Whip’s condition would be in no state to fly a plane, but that doesn’t seriously hurt the end product. The outcome is an intelligent, involving drama lifted by a well-written screenplay (earning writer John Gatins an Oscar nomination) and a brilliant turn by Denzel Washington.

SUMMARY: A mesmerising performance by Denzel Washington and a solid return to live-action movies for Robert Zemeckis make for a first-class flight.

RATING: 4 out of 5 STARS

Jedd Jong