Men Who Stare At Goats, The

There’s a war going on. Two wars actually. But this is a movie review after all, and instead of analyzing the actual war in which soldiers are still dying, this will focus on something that is really of no consequence at all when you think about it, that is the movies. During World War II there were a lot of movies about the war, and they were great films but mostly propaganda. Most of the great Vietnam films that everyone remembers came out years after the war was over. This time around Hollywood has been seizing the opportunity to make war films as the war is unfolding. And they have all been disasters expect for one, "The Hurt Locker," which is probably the best film of the year. And while it might be too soon I would welcome a well made war satire. I await the day when someone finally writes the “Dr. Strangelove,” or “Thank You For Smoking” set in Iraq or Afghanistan because there is a lot that is absurd about the way the wars began. But until then I guess we’re all stuck with “The Men Who Stare at Goats.”

“The Men Who Stare at Goats” begins with a title card that says something to the effect of “more of this movie is true than you might think,” which is how I think every single movie should start. What follows is a story that in any other form would be extremely interesting; however the movie itself is not. The story is of an experimental squad of soldiers that were trained to harness psychic abilities. I don’t know who to blame, it could be the director, but its probably the writer’s fault, or both, but there is something wrong with the pacing of this movie and the way the narrative unfolds that just sucks all the life out of it. There is an interesting movie in here somewhere but this isn’t it. For the most part the movie is boring, which is frustrating because the subject matter seems so interesting and fertile ground for satire. And while there are parts of the film where the satire sort of works, the humor falls flat because of the terrible pacing or structure or something I just can’t put my finger on. George Clooney is believable as are most of the other actors in the ensemble cast of great actors, but Ewan McGregor serves little purpose except to coax Clooney’s character into revealing the back-story.

This movie isn’t terrible, but I had hoped for a something better. There really isn’t a lot in this film that makes it worth watching. If what little interest you might have in the subject matter is enough to compel you to see it like it did for me, you really don’t get anything from the film that you can’t get by watching a trailer for it. This isn’t a serious film about the war clearly, and that’s the opportunity that the film squanders. So much more can be achieved with satire in terms of getting a message across than with a serious drama. But instead this film is bland. I can’t wait for the war to be over and for it to be fully processed, if not for the obvious reasons then at least because when that happens there will be some great films.