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November 12, 2007 —
Are you aware that the war on terror has not gone as successfully as hoped? Have you realized that many intelligent college students have become ambivalent toward our nations politics? Did you know that Tom Cruise can, indeed, act? If your answer to these questions is "no," then Lions for Lambs is a must see movie for you. If you knew these things, however, I'm pretty sure you'll get bored with the mere 90-minute film.
Robert Redford acts and directs this latest film hoping either to enlighten the uniformed or to cash in on the political and military blunders in the Middle East. The growing popularity of these movies is almost creating its own genre. I'm beginning to tire of them as almost no new ground can be tread at this point.
The film focuses on three related plot-lines. The first is that of Senator Jasper Irving (Cruise), who is giving the story of his personal attempt at ending the war on terror in Afghanistan to an aging journalist (Meryl Streep). The second takes place in the office of a political science professor, Dr. Stephen Malley (Redford), as he attempts to talk sense into an increasingly ambivalent, yet promising, student. The third is the story of two former students of Malley's (Michael Pena and Derek Luke) that have since joined the army and been sent into Afghanistan.
The acting in the film is top notch. Irving is Cruise's best role in years (not that that is a difficult feat), showing off a charismatic prowess, becoming of a young senator, with ease. Streep and Redford do a fine job with their parts; Streep gets a couple of moments to really shine in an otherwise straightforward role. The noteworthy surprise of the film is Andrew Garfield, however. He plays Todd Hayes, the student Malley is trying to reach, and does a fantastic job keeping up with Redford.
The real problem is that none of the characters are particularly well-developed, a fault of the script and not the actors in this case. There are a few moments where the actors can really take their characters someplace interesting, but it reverts back to something that's been done before too quickly to be truly engaging.
Furthermore, the one-message direction of the film makes it all the less powerful because I began to feel like Hayes after awhile - like a professor was preaching his somewhat narrow-minded ideology at me over and over.
I knew going into the film that the war on terror has seen a lot of problems. I knew that there are a lot of young intellects out there who care less and less about what is going in our country because they feel there is little they can do. I also knew that Tom Cruise could act, but I was happy to see him doing it again. So, as the ending credits started, I sat there and asked, out loud, "That's it?" And indeed, it was.