Rod Lurie, who next directed the great Joan Allen vehicle, The Contender, obviously got some on the job training on this, his first film. He's stuck with a limited budget and in over his head with the story, but there are some very good moments.
I originally picked this up because the cast and story were interesting and I was keen to see how the casting of Kevin Pollack as the president was going to work (i.e., it's either going to work or be very, very funny).
The story revolves around the political and personal decisions revolving around a potential military action on the part of the U.S.A. I believe that we are too often a society that says "kill 'em all" about it's enemies. Lurie is completely effective at making us feel how dangerous and painful a decision like that might actually be.
The main cast (Kevin Pollack, Timothy Hutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Sean Astin) is wonderful. Lurie could have eliminated most of the rest of the cast from the story and really sharpened the story. I would, however, like to see more of Clotilde Courau. There was just enough of her featured in the first half of the film to pique my interest in her work.
As an aside, listening to the director's commentary is fairly painful as it is full of inaccuracies (he claims Timothy Hutton as the youngest Oscar winner ever), misguided/unnecessary comments about the condition of the U.S. Military (hey, I don't really know we're at, and it's obvious Lurie doesn't either) and advice on how to make a movie (after just his first time out). I also got tired of hearing about how financially well-off he is. On the other hand, he is frank about his mistakes with the film and you get a sense of what he was driving at.
I originally picked this up because the cast and story were interesting and I was keen to see how the casting of Kevin Pollack as the president was going to work (i.e., it's either going to work or be very, very funny).
The story revolves around the political and personal decisions revolving around a potential military action on the part of the U.S.A. I believe that we are too often a society that says "kill 'em all" about it's enemies. Lurie is completely effective at making us feel how dangerous and painful a decision like that might actually be.
The main cast (Kevin Pollack, Timothy Hutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Sean Astin) is wonderful. Lurie could have eliminated most of the rest of the cast from the story and really sharpened the story. I would, however, like to see more of Clotilde Courau. There was just enough of her featured in the first half of the film to pique my interest in her work.
As an aside, listening to the director's commentary is fairly painful as it is full of inaccuracies (he claims Timothy Hutton as the youngest Oscar winner ever), misguided/unnecessary comments about the condition of the U.S. Military (hey, I don't really know we're at, and it's obvious Lurie doesn't either) and advice on how to make a movie (after just his first time out). I also got tired of hearing about how financially well-off he is. On the other hand, he is frank about his mistakes with the film and you get a sense of what he was driving at.