| Great opening |
|
| written by thingstodo |
February 6, 2006 - 9:50 AM PST |
|
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
|
As if to make up for the lack of action throughout the rest of the film, there were some very spectacular shots of nuclear explosions in the opening shots. If only that power were harness for constructive uses....
Anyway. I'll warn you no: don't expect ANY chase scenes, fight scenes, or anything resembling action in this movie, and you'll do fine.
There's a lot of talk in the movie. And then there is more talk. There is one or two exciting (and dangerous) flight sequences of U2s and fighter jets used in a dual-purposed recon mission, but for the most part, this movie is about talking. If you're interested in the subject matter (i.e. Cuban crisis, cold war, U2s, Kennedy bros in their prime), it's interesting talk.
The Kennedies are portrayed in very good light (no mention of Marilyn), reminiscent of the fairy tale that was "The American President." Admittedly this one involves a significantly more serious scenario: a deadly game of chess between the Kennedy admistration and the USSR (and there were sacrificial pawns) brought on by a bold aggressive move by the latter in seeding Cuba with nuclear missiles.
One challenge these movies have is that they can't really count on any suspense at the holistic level. While the fate of "minor" characters remains in question, you're not gonna wonder as you're watching it whether there will be a nuclear war between the two superpowers (if there were, you wouldn't be sitting here reading this.) So the whole thing is tested by how well the story is told, as opposed to where the plot takes you.
So on the whole, we all know what eventually happens. I'm sure it's not a spoiler for you to say that eventually peace prevailed between the two giants, only to remain in a stalemate with more deaths of sacrificial pawns up until that late '80s when one of the two finally succumbed to attrition.
It was interesting to watch how the military was so ready to take the safety off and jump into action without so much as to think about the repercussions (beyond the next military move). And the Kennedies were fighting battles with the war hawks both outside and inside the country at the time.
Unfortunately we get very little insight at what was going on at the USSR side. Was there a coup of the hardliners that sabotage any peace attempts by Khrushchev? I have a feeling that there may have been significantly more intrigue over there at the time. Makes one wonder how the current adminstration would have handled a similar threat.
Now that's a thriller with an open ending.
|
|
|
Your cart
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.