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Review: 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' stares at greatness, settles for good
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Overture Filmes
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a comedy about the US Army's forays into the paranormal realm and psychological and psychic warfare. Based on a book by Welsh journalist Jon Ronson, the story starts in the early '80's with the New Earth Army (in real life, the First Earth Battalion), and their experiments with remote location, psychic energy and promoting peace instead of love.
Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) is Bill Django, the founder of the program, and he is pretty amazing throughout the movie. Bill starts out as a Vietnam vet who got the Army to fund a sojourn into the hippie world where he experimented with all sorts of drugs, New Age fads and different religions, and he comes back as a shaman of peace and love. He sets out to change the Army from within, starting with a small group of trained men who became known as Jedi Warriors (there are actually a number of Star Wars jokes throughout the movie, all involving Jedis, dark sides and the force). His best student is Lyn Cassady, played by an intense and sometimes wacky George Clooney (Burn After Reading) and Kevin Spacey (Moon) is Larry Hooper, the slimy d-bag who betrays the ethics of the New Earth Army and wants to use psychic energy to kill goats (hence the title). Ewan McGregor (The Island, Black Hawk Down) is Bob Wilton, the journalist who runs to Iraq to impress his ex-fiance and stumbles upon Lyn Cassady, who tells his side of the New Earth Army story. It was kind of weird to have the Scottish McGregor play Wilton as an American, even though the character is based on a real-life Welshman. Let's just say Ewan's Alex Guinness impression is much better than his American accent. It's not awful, but it leaves him kind of marble mouthed. That's a small quibble though. This is all quality acting, which makes sense since the movie was directed by a really good character actor, Grant Heslov (True Lies, Good Night, and Good Luck).
The story touches on a lot of very interesting problems, but that's all it does, touches. The tone stays pretty light throughout, even when situations get pretty hairy, and the satire never really hits that hard. And I'm sure that was the intention from the start, to not really emphasize the darker aspects of the story and to cast a humorous light on a humorous part of the Army's history. It's not Dr. Strangelove, where we get characters riding bombs through the sky, directly addressing the problems head on. The Men Who Stare at Goats is more of a roundabout, cheeky look at how the Army (and any prison or corporation, really) can manipulate something meant for good and use it for the not-so-good. While this makes for a fun and entertaining movie to watch, it really doesn't stick to the ole ribs. When it's over, it feels like there's nothing to talk about. It was funny. Good times were had. The end. Maybe something that hit a little harder (or decided to hit at all) would have made more of an impact. Or maybe that would have backfired completely. Who knows in this crazy wacky world?
Heslov has some style, though he keeps it constrained for the most part. Flashbacks are used heavily throughout the story, and it works pretty well when it catches up to the story's present and it all comes full circle. The movie also looks really good, thanks in large part to cinematographer Roger Elswit (Hard Eight, Redbelt). It has plenty going for it and can be recommended based on the charm of the actors and for the whole "based on a true story" vibe, but don't expect something here to change the way you look at anything. Well, except maybe goats.
Comments, thoughts, concerns, questions, ideas, proposals, etc? Email me at: crespo11882@yahoo.com
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