Film Review: The Men Who Stare At Goats
When you hear the words; Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and comedic military exposé to describe a film, you get excited, especially when the film is based on an excellent non-fiction book by one of your favourite journalists. And when you hear the director is Grant Heslov, who co-wrote and produced Good Night, and Good Luck with Clooney, the cake seems to be icing itself. Sadly, the joy of what could have been disappears once the film starts, and you have to witness the ludicrous linear narrative that has been tacked together, leaving Jon Ronson’s original work bloody and tattered on the floor.
Jon Ronson’s book is an investigation into a secretive American military unit that was sent up in 1979, called the First Earth Battalion. This unit was designed to create ‘Warrior Monks’ who focused on non-lethal weapons as well as harnessing techniques like invisibility and killing (goats) with their minds. Ronson links these unusual pursuits to current US tactics, like blasting Barney the Dinosaur’s theme tune at prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.
It isn’t really surprising that transposing a brilliant piece of British journalism into an American ‘buddy’ film would create something very average. Ewan McGregor plays the central character, Bob Wilton, an American journalist. This is ironic because like the journalist in the book, McGregor is British. Part of the success of the book is the fish out of water element of a Brit interviewing American military personnel – the nationality relocating proves to be a substantial loss to the flavour of the piece.
Clooney’s politics have come into play in his film choices in the past with huge success, and this story’s absurdist linking of the military with hippie mantras seems perfect for his message-based filmmaking. But the script is not up to the standards any of the actors deserve. Focusing on the relationship between Lyn Cassady (Clooney), a former First Battalion Soldier, and Bob Wilton, the film creates a ridiculous premise of the ‘odd couple’ as a way to explore the book’s revelations. Lyn passing on his knowledge to Bob, as they road-trip-it into Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
The film, for all its faults, does have some very funny moments and all the performances are good. Bridges’ as Bill Django, the founder of the ‘Warrior Monks’ is on pretty safe territory channelling ‘The Dude’, and Kevin Spacey is creepy as Larry Hooper, the evil corrupter of the New Earth Army. Clooney is also great as a kooky spook. Unfortunately, to have ended up with a very run-of-the mill film when they had such exceptional source material, is not much of a filmic triumph.
The Men who Stare at Goats in currently screening nationally in Australia
Director: Grant Heslov
Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Nick Offerman, Tim Griffin, Robert Patrick, Waleed F. Zuaiter
