The franchise people forgot about, a mediocre army recruiting movie, and a late December 2017 release. Oh January, how I never miss thee.
Original postings of these reviews as seen on blacktexasmag.com
Covering the unveiling of the Pentagon Papers via the joint publication of the information through coverage in the New York Times and The Washington Post toward the end of the Vietnam War, “The Post” shows that the Watergate Scandal and the political media frenzy that catalyzed it may have happened almost 5 decades ago but its circumstance ring far more relevant today than when it was first occurring.
Director Steven Spielberg takes his eye to the editorial level of journalism rather than the direct intricacies and grit of the reporter level as these types of movies typically go for a la “Spotlight” or “All the President’s Men.”
Although the resulting film lacks a bit of the down to earth bite that makes movie’s like those so powerful in nailing home the impact of the story being chased, “The Post” instead thrives on exploring the broader ideological implications of the relationship between press and state that we as a society seem to have taken for granted until we elected a President whose responses to scandal include name calling and berating reporters for doing homework.
Differentiating itself from the aforementioned “All the President’s Men,” this is a film less about getting to the bottom of an earth shattering story and more about grappling with all of the ramifications it could bring about, both personal and sociological, should it be published.
Despite coming out in an age knowing of this information’s importance and the downfall of the Nixon administration that it would bring however, Spielberg’s ability to explore the implications of the story and its surrounding circumstances with clearly defined characters shines through even if his tendency to occasionally reach for sentimentality to an admittedly detrimental effect, can bring about an eye rollingly schmaltzy visual of virtues winning out in the face of an apparently monolithic government aiming to stomp down upon the will of the people in the name of pursuing its own agenda.
Between the big wig editors, publishers, and lawyers that comprise of the primary cast, all of the actors go above and beyond in their performances to ensure that regardless of the outcome, nobody looks like a straw man. Legends like Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are naturally as great as ever, capturing appropriate dualities of being emotionally overwhelmed yet unwavering in conviction and fiercely passionate and righteous with an intelligent self awareness towards what can go horribly wrong if the approach isn’t just right, respectively.
All of the others character actors rounding out the cast how up to work just as well however, from appalled reactions to the notion of presidential staff procedurally lying and harming the American people, to those in favor of withholding the information out of very real fears of legal prosecution that could destroy their lives as well as harm that could be caused to the actual publication.
That last point stands particularly poignantly as one of the biggest victories of “The Post” is its ability to remind us exactly why society needs the free press to keep the government of a democracy in check while further elaborating on how difficult that is as a job fundamentally.
Journalism can be a thankless job and if declining newspaper sales in favor of muddy online sources and television news where headlines get buried or stretched beyond usefulness are anything to go by, it’s bleak to think how little may have truly changed between now and the early 1970s.
Whatever the current state of media in our time may be however, “The Post” is nevertheless a nearly perfect specimen of the exact type of historical drama that it wants to be. Narrative hiccups here and there caused by exaggerations of the story notwithstanding, the film is being touted highly for buzz at the Oscars this year and with good reason.
8 Watergate Scandals out of 10
“12 Strong” depicts the previously classified military campaign of a team of army soldiers working with Afghanistan militias to destabilize regional Taliban control in the month following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
After having begun readjusting to civilian life, twelve soldiers of the United States Army are called into action to establish relationships with the Northern Alliance and secure a foothold in the field that would become crucial for the coming War on Terror that would be waged within the region to this day.
In the true fashion of a January theatrical release however, whatever the audience is meant to actually take away from this is just about anyone’s meaningless guess.
All credit where it’s due, as with any declassified military operation, it’s always nice to see unsung heroes getting their due, even if it’s in a polished up and watered down Hollywood depiction of the mission in question in which the actors depicting them barely contain even a passing resemblance to the team.
Additionally to the film’s credit, said cast is also one of its greatest saving graces. Any of the titular twelve soldiers in question that aren’t played by a name carrying some sort of clout get generally glossed over but still carry themselves with a commendable presence expected of solid character actors.
Of the members that actually do get noticeable attention, Chris Hemsworth continues to prove his salt as a charismatic leading man, walking the fine line flawlessly between a soldier at the top of his game in training that is still seeing combat for the first time. Meanwhile, Michael Peña gets to work his chops in drama in a shift from his typically comedic work, which is always nice to see, and Michael Shannon gets to break type from his usually antagonistic roles to be a guy that you actually like and want to root for, while reminding the audience of why he’s so good at his job.
It’s a good thing “12 Strong” boasts that talent because it sure doesn’t have anything unique to say about its actual subject matter, despite the bizarre spectacle to which it lends its circumstances.
Forgoing any sense of character study that could be gleamed from men unexpectedly tossed back into combat after an era of tumultuous peace in order to navigate regional politics with people whose allegiances are never set in stone, or situational nuance that could be explored through the perilous landscape that sees its protagonists carrying out most combat and scouting missions on horseback, the movie basically plays out as a standard “cowboys and Indians-esque” combat fantasy in which the action set pieces are meant to be the star.
Is this mildly insensitive and potential wasting? Absolutely, especially when the more exploitative aspects of Taliban oppression of women and girls comes up for the sole purpose of redundantly reinforcing that the people that planned the 9/11 attacks are bad guys in a scene of civilian slaughter that could literally be cut out from the film whole with no impact on editing whatsoever.
The real killer blow, however, is ultimately how astonishingly average these action beats ultimately are.
The set up may be fascinating but the horseback riding gimmick that made the entire campaign so unique doesn’t really amount to much in the grand scheme of things and between occasionally lack luster edits between cuts that can make the multilayered terrain difficult to discern in the heat of heavy fire and jarringly unconvincing blood splatter, the carnage falls into an unfortunate territory of lacking any true bite as being anti-war while never rising above the level of merely okay in terms of spectacle.
When the whole thing is said and done, “12 Stronger” comes off as a shallow, unintentionally insensitive, forgettable project at worst but only a mildly diverting and ultimately pedestrian viewing experience at best, especially in the face of completion in the post 9/11 war film market such as “American Sniper” and “Lone Survivor.”
This is a movie that unfortunately never manages to rise to even the half way mark of interesting that its own premise carries.
5 Unsung War Horses out of 10
As far as the recent crop of high profile film adaptations based on Young Adult novels go, “Maze Runner” kind of feels a bit underappreciated.
Neither of the previous films were particularly great but they’re also not bad and seem to operate at least fully aware that all their material really amounts to at best is a solid matinee popcorn flick, admittedly with several stretches of rather inspired filmmaking breaking up a stock “teenagers rebelling against the top of the dystopian social hierarchy” plot line which is far from fresh but adequately executed.
The largest criticism leveled against the series relative to its intent as light but harmless entertainment for the blockbuster crowd and presumably the younger audience with an attachment to the source material is the questionable decision to abandon the titular Maze aspect that made its first installment a novelty.
“Maze Runner: The Death Cure” is no exception and despite having the problems of a run time that overstays its welcome by about 20 minutes or so, exacerbated by an overdependence of emotional investment in characters and a story that never quite flourishes as well as director Wes Ball’s admirable directorial choices, the end result is still a diverting little romp that knows to wrap its story up before returns start to diminish.
Dylan O’brien reprises his role as Thomas, leading a group of boys his age that he found in an underground maze against the organization WCKD (pronounced wicked), whose extreme measures to find a cure for a plague zombifying humanity has led their very charges and populace in open revolt of their lack of ethics.
After the groups betrayal at the hands of one of their own in the previous film, Thomas and his friends team up with local rebels and escaped prisoners to mount a final assault on WCKD and end their perceived abuse of power once and for all.
From opening sequence to end credits, what you see is essentially what you get as far as this series is concerned. Even without the novel concept of struggling within the mystery of the maze, “Maze Runner” has continued to sell itself on being a tightly paced, plot light, atmospheric action thriller that knows how to get just enough character out of its cast’s solid performances before one begins to question just how much range some of the actors may have.
Continuing from “Maze Runner: Scorch Trials,” “The Death Cure” continues to show its directors worth in creating engaging action with fun set pieces, tight editing, and a great use of camerawork to disorient without leaning into shaky cam incomprehensibility.
Ultimately, however, the greatest flaws of the film are almost unanimously in the area of story. The performances go a long way to cover up how pedestrian the dialogue is and how little many of the story mechanics just don’t work in the way they’re being sold if you think about it for more than a few minutes.
The full scale war waged with WCKD in the final half is downright surreal to watch when you think of how little build up really went into it across the entire series let alone this single entry and the areas of grey that the film attempts to establish as far as the organizations extreme actions never manage to sell them sympathetically in the slightest.
As previously mentioned, the film also has an issue of leaning to heavily on emotional investment that never really materialized for general audiences the same way the franchise’s more successful contemporaries have, although I’d be remiss to not mention a contributing factor to that would probably be the movie’s 11 month delay following O’brien’s unfortunate and severely injuring set accident that suspended production back in 2016.
All of these miscalculations are an expected par for the course but “The Death Cure’s” most crippling flaw is that it’s unfortunately a tad bit too long for its own good.
Right when things seem like they’re about to wrap up, a new villain makes his presence known and extends the climax beyond reasonable length and makes the details of the actual ending that plays out feel unsatisfying murky.
The biggest flaw of the “Maze Runner” films has always been their lack of ambition and “The Death Cure” falls right in line with that very issue. Fortunately, the series’ saving grace has always been its sincerity and an admirable workman-like effort and craftsmanship put into the final product.
While the uninitiated need not bother “The Death Cure” is decent enough way to kill an afternoon if you’ve already seen the first 2 movies.
6 Labyrinthian Twists out of 10
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