W
W: Anyone can grow up to be president
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Tuesday, 04, Nov 2008 11:46
Directed by Oliver Stone, out November 7th in cinemas, starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss, Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn, Ellen Burstyn, Ioan Gruffudd, Jeffrey Wright, Noah Wyle and Toby Jones, running time 129 mins.
In a nutshell.
Do not misunderestimate the president
What's it all about?
Oliver Stone returns to presidential subject matter with a satirical biopic of George W Bush, the first to ever be made about a sitting president. Instead of the drama of Nixon or the power of JFK, in W Stone sets out to portray the current president's Capra-esque rise from a drunken reprobate to commander in chief of the United States and leader of the free world.
Set on the eve of the Iraq war and centred on the decision-making that would lead to the invasion, W is interspersed with George Bush Junior's back story: His drinking, the shadow cast by his father (and brother), his drinking, his inability to hold a job, his drinking, his womanising, his drinking, and, finally, his rebirth as a dedicated Christian.
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Who's in it?
Josh Brolin heads one of the mightiest casts assembled in Hollywood this year. Brolin (In the Valley of Elah, No Country for Old Men) is superb as the eponymous W; a perfect blend of the president's intellectual shortcomings and steadfast resolve, coupled with a near-perfect physical portrayal.
Richard Dreyfuss is just as good as a megalomaniac Dick Cheney ("vice" in W's words), with Scott Glenn speaking in tongues as Donald Rumsfeld ("Rummy") and Thandie Newton stealing every second of screen-time she is given as Condoleezza Rice.
James Cromwell is a powerful George HW Bush who continues to doubt his son - even when he makes the White House - alongside Ellen Bursytn as Barbara Bush.
Elizabeth Banks (Scrubs, Spider-Man) delivers a measured performance as Laura Bush, while Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, Syriana) labours with his conscience as 'good guy' Colin Powell and Toby Jones revels as controversial presidential adviser Karl Rove.
As an example.
"Mr President, what place do you think you will have in history?" - Reporter [referred to by W as 'Miss China']
"In history? We'll all be dead." - George W Bush
"I'll never get out of poppy's shadow... Whoever remembers the son of a president anyway?" - George W Bush
"John Quincy Adams." - Laura Bush
"That was like 300 years ago wasn't it?" - George W Bush
"What is the exit strategy in Iraq?" - Colin Powell
"There is no exit. We stay." - Dick Cheney
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Oliver Stone is an outsider in the Academy's eyes and, despite the subject material, will largely be overlooked come Oscar season.
The exception is Brolin, who makes the difficult title role his own. Of the supporting cast, Newton is the highlight as Secretary Rice, but isn't given enough time to justify a nomination.
What the others say
"W is not really a political movie per se; rather, it's a movie about a man who went into politics but probably shouldn't have. It's about how a father can misread a son, how a son can suffer in the shadow of a famous dad and how temperament gets molded by events both internal and external." - Hollywood Reporter
"The film is unable to achieve more than a sort of engaging pop-history pageant and amateur, if not inapt, psychological evaluation, due to the unavoidable lack of perspective and a final act that has yet to be written.
"When the Texas flashbacks finally catch up with the Washington framing device, the film suddenly becomes a half-documentary about the Iraq war, changing the tone as well as the up-close-and-personal feel." - Variety
So is it any good?
Despite its highly-sensitive release date just ahead of Americans electing a replacement to its main subject, W is largely an apolitical film.
Oliver Stone has professed that he was not interested in passing judgment on George W and his claims are borne out in the movie, which is instead interested in exploring how and why George Junior ended up in the White House.
Central to this is the younger George's relationship with his father, played well but not mimicked by James Cromwell. Right up until the invasion of Iraq - the defining moment not only of George W Bush's presidency but the 21st century - the president is beset by anxiety over his father's reaction to his decision, despite painting himself as the "decider".
W shifts back and forth between the Iraq war build-up and George Junior's transformation from an alcoholic who took swings at his father and could not hold a job down to a born-again Christian who vows never to lose an election again and to right the wrongs, as he saw it, of the first-ever Bush administration.
The problem is that Stone's exploration of the relationship between the father and son presidents is not as interesting or engaging as scenes involving W's White House cabal discussing how best to describe North Korea, Iraq and Iraq (first suggestion: Axis of Weasels).
The film's main strengths are its ensemble cast and the standout performance from Josh Brolin a W himself. Most of the familiar faces are lacking from the flashback sequences, which in comparison are dull and unappealing, partly due to the younger Bush's lack of likeability, if not charm.
But while the Iraq war segments are the most interesting aspect of the film, Stone has no intention of providing a valediction for George W, or presenting a feature on the decisions that led to the invasion.
What we are left with instead is an uncomfortable mix of a dramatised, anecdotal familial drama and a political satire that has yet to reach its conclusion - the Bush administration has a long, pointless, two months left to run and the war in Iraq, and war on terror, are far from finished.
Ultimately W cannot decide what it wants to be, much unlike its subject, who may continue to be misunderestimated long after his presidency ends.
7/10
Matthew Champion