When you hear the words; Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and comedic military exposé to describe a film, you get excited, especially when the film is based on an excellent non-fiction book by one of your favourite journalists. And when you hear the director is Grant Heslov, who co-wrote and produced Good Night, and Good Luck with Clooney, the cake seems to be icing itself. Sadly the joy of what could have been disappears once the film starts, and you have to witness the ludicrous linear narrative that has been tacked together, leaving Jon Ronson’s original work bloody and tattered on the floor.
Jon Ronson’s book is an investigation into a secretive American military unit that was sent up in 1979, called the First Earth Battalion. This unit was designed to create ‘Warrior Monks’ who focused on non-lethal weapons as well as harnessing techniques like invisibility and killing (goats) with their minds. Ronson links these unusual pursuits to current US tactics, like blasting Barney the Dinosaur’s theme tune at prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.
It isn’t really surprising that transposing a brilliant piece of British journalism into an American ‘buddy’ film would create something very average. Ewan McGregor plays the central character, Bob Wilton, an American journalist. This is ironic because like the journalist in the book, McGregor is British. Part of the success of the book is the fish out of water element of a Brit interviewing American military personnel- the nationality relocating proves to be a substantial loss to the flavour of the piece.
click here to read the full review at Trespass
