Email This StoryClooney and crew 'Stare' down conventional story
Nov. 10, 2009
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Associated PressGeorge Clooney, who plays Lyn Cassady, is shown in a scene from Grant Heslov's "The Men Who Stare At Goats." Clooney's character is part of the elite army unit that battle's forces of evil with mind powers. |
By Ash Anderson
Entertainment Editor
Grant Heslov's "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is a very strange movie.
The first minute of the movie is a black screen with the words, "More of this movie is true than you would believe."
Unfortunately, not many people would believe anything that this film has to say.
It speaks of paranormal soldiers -- jedi, as they call themselves -- that have been trained by the American government to act as super soldiers.
Why send in a group of soldiers that can be morally wounded with bullets if you can send it a group of soldiers that can kill enemy combatants with their minds?
Such is one of the many questions this film tries to address in as serious a way as possible.
Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a small-time reporter, heads to Iraq to find the story of a lifetime so that he can win his wife back.
On his way there, he meets the enigmatic Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). Cassady claims to be part of an elite unit, trained as the "New Earth Army," whose sole purpose is to battle the forces of evil with mind powers.
Wilton is doubtful of this fact, but it's the only story that he can manage to get his hands on. He and Cassady form a strange partnership. Predictably, following Cassady proves more trouble than it's worth.
Because of his partner's complete reliance on his psychic abilities, Wilton finds himself stranded in the desert, in an Iraqi prison, and being shot at by the border patrol.
Through it all though, Cassady and Wilton continue to pursue the story. At the heart of the New Earth Army is Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), who founded the NEA after a supernatural encounter with a lone soldier during the Vietnam War.
Shot and nearly dead, Django has a vision that leads him to create an army based around the possibilities of the mind.
Cassady is recruited, as is Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), who has conflicting ideals as to how their mental powers should be used.
Hooper eventually brings a case against Django, leading Django to be dishonorably discharged.
Finding Django becomes Wilton's top priority, and a variety of funny and stupid antics ensue.
I am torn between praising this film and tearing it down. The cinematography and acting are terrific, with Clooney and McGregor completely embodying their respective characters.
However, the story is somewhat lacking. By no means am I saying that the movie is too farfetched -- that's the point.
The overall tone of the film is too serious for how ridiculous the premise is. It takes itself far too seriously.
Instead, I would have liked to have seen a film that was made with an attitude that was a tad more tongue-in-cheek.
While Clooney and McGregor stood out, Bridges and Spacey had too little screen time to be effective as their characters.
Django was too silly of a character to be tolerated by the army, but, again, he was leading a psychic brigade of soldiers.
Despite the lack of imagination in the second half of the flim, it does succeed in entertaining its audience.
The ensemble cast saves the film from diving too far into the gutter, but you may find yourself wishing that the team responsible for the overall direction had a little more oomph.
Grade: C+
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