REVIEW: Snowden

The last Oliver Stone movie I saw was Savages.  It left me feeling unimpressed.  It lacked compelling characters and had a jerky story telling narrative.  It was a long way from the all time classic, Platoon.  That is one of my favourite war movies of all time, and it shows everything that Oliver Stone is capable of as a director and script writer.  It is a haunting tale of a child born of two fathers in war, needing to choose which one to follow.

Going into Snowden, I didn't know which Oliver Stone to expect.  Would it be the one who crafts characters from the ground up, magnifying their struggles, or would it be the more scattershot version that was seen in Savages?  I can luckily say that it was closer to the former than the latter.

Snowden tells the story of Edward Snowden (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a man who needs little introduction.  The movie starts off with his meeting of members of the press and film-maker Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo).  Those meetings are central to the film, as the rest is the backdrop of Snowden's story of trying to get into the military, and then ending up being a contractor for the CIA and NSA.

The real strength of this movie is the acting performance by Gordon-Levitt, whose portrayal of Edward Snowden is spot on.  He is soft spoken, patient, and eager to learn.  He is also driven by a large moral compass, which may end up being the biggest weakness of the film as well.  When Snowden is confronted with examples of government overreach, there is no real inner turmoil as to how to respond.  It is clear that Oliver Stone sees Edward Snowden as a hero, and this is reflected in the script and how the movie is directed.

This is a problem because the leaks brought to us by Edward Snowden have caused a huge debate over privacy and security.  It is something that is still reverberating today, as those discussions continue with governments wanting back doors into encrypted messaging systems.  Well, that's not true.  They know that saying the word 'back door' is going to rile the public against them because of the intense metadata that they had collected before, so they don't use this word.  But, what they are asking for is essentially that.  The point is, the Snowden leaks are something that have forever changed the landscape of the electronic world, and there are valid points to be seen on both sides.  The movie steers clear of properly making justifications without villainizing the characters central to that argument.  The fact that there is an obvious bias towards what Edward Snowden did does take some of the teeth out of this movie, which could have otherwise served as a great piece to continue the existing debate.

That issue aside, this is a really solid film from Stone, who uses pacing, his shots, and the score Craig Armstrong to create tension and make it roll out like a thriller in some points.  There have been some great movies that are able to create this sort of tension without having scenes with chases and violence, and Snowden stands up as one of them.

Central to the story is the relationship between Edward Snowden and his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills (Shailene Woodley).  Woodley's performance is easily one of her best, and it is of vast importance to the success of this movie to get the power of the relationship right.  For Edward Snowden to release the data, he is having to choose between what's best for the public interest, or what's best for him.  To not disclose it means he gets to keep his life with his love, but to disseminate it means to possibly lose out on the relationship, as he would have to flee the United States.

The chemistry between Gordon-Levitt and Woodley is impeccable.  It is easy to accept them as a couple of love birds, and we are introduced to the struggles that they have to get through to make the relationship work long term.  It is a relationship that is easy to accept and cheer for.  Without that, we would not get a full sense of what was at stake when Edward Snowden made his decision to do what he did.

While I am talking about that, I do realize that I have another small issue with the movie.  It never really invites the audience member into the shoes of Edward Snowden and make them ask if they would do the same thing, risking their lives and their relationships.  This is because the character of Edward Snowden, as portrayed in the movie, is a moving vessel that never really stops to allow the audience to climb aboard.

There have been a few things that I have mentioned as being issues with the movie, but those are more things that arrive out of missed opportunities.  This film could have easily been one of the major cinematic talking points of the last few years, but the bias towards Edward Snowden robbed it of being a topic of discussion in coffee shops and class rooms.  For that, you need to check out the documentary Citizenfour.

While there are issues, what is clear about this movie is that it is a solid work of art.  Stone uses all of the techniques in the book, and borrows some from documentary film making (which could create a disjointed experience for some viewers, but I found it to work).  What we are treated with in the end is a piece of cinema that captures the interest of the viewer, and takes them through the unravelling of one of the biggest social revelations of our time, and it is done while being vastly entertaining at the same time.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars

PS - Melissa Leo is fantastic as always.

Hannah's Pick: The Fighter

Well, I had a fairly good streak going on the blog, running the Monday to Friday life and getting reviews posted.  And then, all fell flat.  I wish there was a great reason for this.  I wish I could come up with a grand explanation as to why I was absent for the last few days.  Sadly, I have nothing other than a video game addiction that overtook me, which lead to a complete inability to track time.  I think I may have had a bug as well, but it was more so due to my desire to crush, kill and destroy pixelated villains in the name of good.

While many people look to this year as being the career renaissance of actor Matthew McConaughey, 2010 was the turning point in career of director/writer David O. Russell.  He had not directed a movie since 2004’s I Heart Huckabees and returned with The Fighter, which started off an incredible run of three movies in four years that would all earn Oscar nominations for best picture, best director, and a slew of acting nominations and wins.  I believe it is the first time in history that a director got such big recognition for three consecutive movies, and, as a pick from my wonderful sister-in-law Hannah, I thought it would be a great idea to travel back and take a look at the film.

One thing that Russell has managed to excel at in his films is the ability to draw captivating performances from his actors (Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle both got nominations in all four acting categories).  These performances, combined with great script and direction, quickly create people who we are invested in and we become quickly wrapped up in the story.

The Fighter, a movie about the life of boxer Micky Ward, follows brothers Micky (Mark Walberg) and Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) as Ward finds himself in a battle between his own best interests and those of his dysfunctional family.  Managed by his mother Alice (Melissa Leo), the attention is never on what is most appropriate for Micky, but on the former glory of Dicky, who is battling drug addiction.  Micky soon meets a local bartender named Charlene (Amy Adams) and finally has someone in his life who puts his needs ahead of his brother’s.

A typical boxing movie can be a great thing, as we get to cheer for the underdog as they claw their way up the ranks with grit and determination.  The story of Micky Ward is indeed one of the underdog, but it plays out so differently than most other films.  The real focus in this film is the relationships that surround Ward, the support (or lack of support) that he gets from different people, and the choices that he must make regarding career and family.  The pugilistic elements is just a backdrop for a deep story of human connection that hits a head and shatters, needing to be either swept away forever or put back together.

Because the boxing is secondary, the action scenes are not the strongest to exist in a boxing flick.  There is little sense of the crowd and environment (except for a wonderful scene as Micky is preparing to walk out to the ring), which may have been an intentional decision to make it more about Micky and those who were ringside.  The voice over commentary of the action also felt a little lifeless and forced at times, which detracts from the emotional experience of the boxing event.

That aside, there is very little that can be criticized about this film.  The acting was a collage of performances making a piece of art, instead of simply one or two stand out roles that compel the audience.  The characters are such a part of each other in this movie that the majesty of the ensemble’s efforts propels the story to another level.  It is especially the chemistry between Walhberg and Bale that plays well on the screen, giving so much history and context of their relationship simply through their body language and how they interact together.

Ward’s life was one of blue collar upbringing, and that essence comes across in perfect clarity thanks in equal parts to the hair, wardrobe, and locations.  It is easy to forget just how far those aspects can go in immersing the audience in the tale set before them, and the attention to detail that each received in The Fighter increased the tone of the film and took it to the next level.

I may be more than a bit of a David O. Russell fan, but his style of storytelling is right up my alley.   I get really geeked out about movies that focus on creating deep and interesting characters, put them in a situation, and have them have to play off of even more deep and interesting characters.  Some people may think that to be a bore, but I would take that any day over run-of-the-mill special effects and explosions.  Russell is one of the modern masters at this craft, and The Fighter is an excellent case study of how impactful a story can be when we actually care about the choices of the people on the screen.

Rating – 3.5 out of 4 stars

Olympus Has Fallen

Well, I am finally back.  After having to take a bit of a break to allow my body the chance to work out the kinks of a prescription, I am ready to do the daily movie reviews.  I had attempted to keep it up when I started the prescription, but the side effects became rather unfortunate and life was reduced to simple things like sleeping (actually, it involved a heck of a lot of not sleeping – one of the fun side effects), yelling at cats, and watching movies.  Lucky for you, I have seen a few movies as of late that have left me with stuff to talk about.  Unlucky for you, most of those films were lacking any kind of depth and included a lot of films that focused on explosions and/or giant sharks.

Today’s movie is a film that I saw in theatre earlier this year when it first came out, and I managed to talk Rachel into viewing it when it popped up on Netflix.  The movie is Olympus Has Fallen, a film about terrorists who take over the White House and the one man who can stop them.  When attempting to convince Rachel that she should watch this movie with me I left out the fact that it was basically considered by everyone to be Die Hard but in the White House (Rachel fell asleep during Die Hard, so I made sure to never bring it up).

Tragically, not only is this film like Die Hard in its most base concept, but there are styles and moments taken right out of the beloved action film from the 80s.  One could see this film and interpret the thievery as laziness, and it would be hard to argue with that fact as laziness was what I was left thinking about in regards to a number of a of this movie.  For one thing, the CGI effects in this movie are lazy to the point of being on par with an Asylum production.  From planes to cars, the visual effects cook awful and like something out of a made for TV movie.  Also in the realm of laziness was the unfolding of the assault on the White House.  Apparently an unidentified military plane can fly into American airspace and get to within a stone’s throw of the nation’s capital before a mere two planes are scrambled to ‘intercept’ it.  After those measly planes got shot down, it seems it would take another five minutes to finish the job.

One thing that had me worried going into this film was gratuitous amounts of flag waving, since it is a movie about taking back the White House against evil foreigners (Koreans, to be exact).  Not being an American, movies with an overabundance of patriotism can cause some near fatal eye rolling and I was sure this film would be wandering into that territory.  While it did have its moments of flag waving patriotism, it was not too hard to digest and was kept to a minimum.  The hardest pill to swallow was the fact that they called the White House ‘Olympus,’ essentially referring it to the mythical place where the gods lived and ruled over the earth.  That seemed more than a tad ethnocentric, but if you can get past that you can get to meet…

Mike Banning… Secret Service badass with emotional baggage and a need to prove to himself that he can protect the president.  Really, that’s all you need to know about him, but I will tell you more.  Mike Banning does not doddle.  Mike Banning takes no prisoners.  Mike Banning believes in asking questions first, shooting second, and then shooting third.  Gerard Butler plays the role of Banning (a great name for a one man wrecking ball, if ever there was one) and is where the real heart of this movie is.  The dialogue is cheesy and uninspired, but Butler makes this film fun and it is easy to let all of the previous laziness fall to the side and just join in on the fun of a very angry Banning ripping his way through baddies on route to saving the world.

What would otherwise be a laughable movie actually ends up turning into a great revisit to the feel of the eighties action movie, you just have to make it through what I thought was a slog for the first thirty minutes.  If you can endure the predictable beginning and awful special effects during the siege on the White House, you just may end up having a blast with this action flick.  Because so much of the production of the movie felt lazy (I should mention that once the movie started taking place within the White House, it tightened up significantly), the burden lands on the shoulders of the great cast to give it some life and they do just that.  It is full of acting veterans such as Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, Dylan McDermott, Melissa Leo, Ashley Judd, Robert Forster, and Morgan Freeman.  It is a heck of a deep cast, and they all slide right into their roles and are what really makes this movie work.

In a year that has seen some monumental flops from former action stars of the 80s attempting to recreate their charm, it is an 80s action movie knock-off that is able to hit the mark.  While there are so many aspects of Olympus Has Fallen that we can criticize and find fault in, it is the cast and the action scenes that happen from within the White House that allow the viewer to find enjoyment with a mindless action movie.  Where some films have convoluted plots to try and seem smart, this film has a convoluted plot that simply exists to be a vehicle for gun fights, fist fights, knife fights, cheesy lines from the hero, and attack helicopters.  That’s exactly the kind of plot that Mike Banning likes.

Rating – 3 out of 4 stars