The Men Who Stare At Goats

[rok]

I finally got around to watching this the other night. Anyone else see it?

I have to say, that this could have been extremely good, but ended up being just ok and a little frustrating toward the end. The concept of chronicling the rise and fall of a secret military new age special/psy-ops organization is about as original as it gets, and in fact was loosely based on actual events. Jeff Bridges was perfect in the part of the founder and spiritual leader (Django who has a lot in common with the Dude from Lebowski) of this group, and Clooney seemed to be having a lot of fun with this as well. Everyone else though, seemed really out of place, especially Ewan McGregor, who for some reason pisses me off whenever he plays the sad sack American. Kevin Spacey is also underutilized, which is odd given that his character is so important to the story. Anyway, I thought it was worth one viewing just for the weirdness of it all and given that it is partially based on real events (from Vietnam, the Cold War, and up through the Iraq war and Gitmo debacle), but I couldn't help but be disappointed with the final product. It seemed like an unfinished work in some ways or that the last 30 minutes were rushed.

Anyway, 3/5 stars.

[Jody]

I pretty much agree with everything that you said. It was a good movie but not nearly as good as I thought it would be. I found the Star Wars references with McGregor to be a little corny and kind of off-putting.

[rok]

Yeah, the Jedi references got old after the first few. McGregor just rubs me the wrong way these days. Almost every role that he takes on where he tries to be an American annoys me. I'm not sure what middle American accent it is that he's trying to replicate, but he needs to stop delivering his lines as though he has severe head trauma.

[BT]

McGregor pisses me off because I remember in the mid 90's he was badmouthing actors appearing in popcorn movies like Independence Day. He then went out and starred in all 3 Star Wars prequels/abortions.

[VanSlawAndCottoCheese]

<!--quoteo(post=90824:date=Apr 19 2010, 12:01 PM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Apr 19 2010, 12:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->all 3 Star Wars prequels/abortions.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You, sir, have no soul (read: Force).

[Scarey]

I know the prequels don't compare to the originals, but was it that bad? A little sappy? Yeah. Too much CGI at times? Sure. Abortions though?

[rok]

Episode I - Abortion
Episode II - An improvement over Ep I, but overall just just ok
Episode III - The best of the 3, but nothing special IMO. The final 30 minutes or so seemed rushed.

[Butcher]

I saw the first one and decided I would never watch a Lucas film ever again.

[jstraw]

<!--quoteo(post=90868:date=Apr 19 2010, 01:41 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Apr 19 2010, 01:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I saw the first one and decided I would never watch a Lucas film ever again.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

You're wiser than I.

[BT]

<!--quoteo(post=90866:date=Apr 19 2010, 01:20 PM:name=Scarey)-->QUOTE (Scarey @ Apr 19 2010, 01:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I know the prequels don't compare to the originals, but was it that bad? A little sappy? Yeah. Too much CGI at times? Sure. Abortions though?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


I'm going to stick with abortion.

No film in history has managed to make me annoyed whenever Natalie Portman is on screen, but this series managed to do it. And she was 1000 times less annoying than either incarnation of Anakin Skywalker. And I haven't even brought up Jar Jar Binks yet.

The opening to part 3 was pretty great and I thought it was ballsy to show future Darth about to slaughter children, but other than that, not too much to like.