Blog Review: W

W.
Starring: Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfus, Jeffery Wright, Thandie Newman
Produced by: Moritz Borman, John Kilik, Bill Block, Oliver Stone
Written by: Stanley Weiser
Directed by: Oliver Stone

"Dick, what is the real withdraw plan?" "There isn't one." It was at that point where Dick Cheney is portrayed as an evil oil-thirsting sith lord that I knew I was going to love this movie. Well, not the movie itself, more like the subject matter. W. made waves upon its release by being the first biopic movie made about a president while said president was still in office. Released at the height of President Bush's unpopularity, there seemed to be no way that the movie could fail.

The movie starts out with a lively debate happening within the Oval Office. Just how should the President address Iran, Iraq, and North Korea in his speech? It's 2002 and September 11 has happened just months ago and (believe it or not) the President was enjoying an 80% approval rating. Secretary Powel says to be too strong could incite bad feelings in the area. The Vice President says the President needs to use that popularity to prevent another September 11. I think this scene greatly highlighted the importance of every single decision made in that office, because as it turns out, what was choosen, axis of evil, has become the idiom of the decade.

The film thus begins a raucous jumping back and forth covering various scenarious of George W. Bush's life. We see him at pledge week at Yale, being bailed out of jail by daddy, drinking binges, suprising sibling rivalry, and attempts to please his father. All of these scenes are cut in between meetings and discussions that take place in the White House. It seems very hard and ruff, there are no transitions whatsoever. The camera is often zoomed in on Brolin's face and shot at odd angles, but to me the close up doesn't achieve what it could have. There is also symbolism that is so strong it almost smacks you in the face. Yes, George Bush owned the Texas Rangers. No, I don't need to see Brolin going out to try and catch a pop-up everytime something hard in his life happens. Will he catch it? We never find out.

The acting however is fantastic. Wright and Dreyfus are great as the continuously feuding former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Vice President Dick Cheyney. The audience is given both sides of the Iraqi War quite well, and you feel a sense of dread when the president doesn't listen to his Secretary of State. I do not remember the presidency George H. W. Bush, but I highly appreciated Cromwell's portrayel of the over bearing father who loved his other son more. Brolin, as the title character, while at times taking the "wild cowboy" act to the extreme, showed that perhaps Bush Jr. was in effect trying to prove to someone that he was capable. Like I said, the subject matter is what is highly fascinating. History is always in 20/20 vision and could the president really justify not doing something after September 11 even if "there was a 1% chance of WMDs"? In 2006 The Queen garnished much praise for its portrayal of British royalty, and I believe did a better job in it's depiction, but W. is quite a worthy mention.