| Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek (at AFI Fest opening night, November 2007) Director: Robert Redford
Writer: Matthew Michael Carnahan
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Derek Luke, Michael Peña, Andrew Garfield In-a-nutshell:
Tom Cruise hit the AFI Fest red carpet supported by friends Will Smith and David Beckham, and one wonders whether Smith's Independence Day might have resonated with just as much political import. Cruise portrays a gung-ho Republican senator willing to take his party in "new" directions that reflect those "new" directives taken forty years ago in Vietnam, and he repeats and reiterates that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win the war on terror. Cruise's dialogue is made more interesting by the recipient, Meryl Streep's well-heeled Janine Roth, a newshound who's heard it all before and who is forced to evaluate her pawnship in the greater game of the news media. (Cruise's dialogue is also made momentarily humorous by photoshopped images of him alongside Veep Cheney and Condoleeza Rice.) The exchange between senator and newshound is mirrored in two other two-headed stories that thread throughout Lions: one, an exchange between tired old teacher, Prof. Malley (Redford), and a student (Andrew Garfield) he's attempting to inspire; the other, two soldiers who travel from depressed areas of the U.S. into Malley's classroom and on to the army where they find themselves trapped in hostile territory (in terms of both climate and terrorist troops) in the mountains of Afghanistan. Critics might suggest the story of the soldiers (Michael Peña and Derek Luke) seems stuck on a soundstage rather than the snow-blown mountains; this effect seems less the fault of the thesps than the designers. Each of the actors holds his own and is believable in his bit part. (Besides, even if the script were a little soft, who'd ever turn down a chance to be directed by the Sundance Kid?) Garfield's disillusioned college student is similarly bound - well-played but fixed in a chair in which to listen and respond, but not a battle-station from which to fend or fight. While the film, at times, raises interesting investigation - of history repeating itself, of the fact that the media sold the war on Iraq with as much gusto as it's now trying to distance itself from the G.O.P., and of the willingness of today's youth to let the world pass it by in exchange for video game tourneys and girls going wild - Redford's tale feels tired. Rather than leaving the theater inspired to commit - to either a liberal cause or to the nation's armed forces - one is unfortunately left without direction. Was that intentional? Perhaps. Is that our fate? Let's hope not. Lions is a well-intentioned effort as the debut outing for the "new" United Artists under Cruise and Paula Wagner's helm, and it's a great choice of subject and talent to open a film festival; the theaters themselves, however, will be a territory less forgiving. Top: Redford, Streep, Cruise. Images courtesy of MGM/United Artists. |
