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Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) has an agenda a strategy for winning in the Middle East; send small troops of Army Rangers
to isolated points in Afghanistan and they can eliminate the insurgents
from a superior vantage point. He’s going to need to sell this concept
to the American public so he invites seasoned journalist, Janine Roth (Meryl
Streep) to do an exclusive interview. The only problem will be if she doesn’t
run the story.
The military exercise is happening at the same time as their conversation
so you get to see the implementation and how it doesn’t go like it was
stated in the comfort of a Washington office. Ernest (Michael Peña)
and Arian (Derek Luke) are separated from their squad during the mission.
Will these brave men come out with their beliefs and bodies intact?
Meanwhile on a California campus Professor Malley (Robert Redford) is trying to get through to his brightest Poly Sci student, Todd (Andrew Garfield). He is talking of passion, making a difference and apathy – will he inspire this young thinker to do the right thing?
Talking heads pontificating could
have been the subtitle for this script, the actors deliver their lines
powerfully but you are not left with a powerful film. We think we found
the reason when we located this (Possible) Excerpt from script...
Senator: This is my point of view, I am going to tell you my POV in a really
compelling way, you’ll hardly see the spin as I masterfully paint a picture
with words, I may use too many words and that might actually be the downfall
of my diatribe – if I repeat a concept over and over again do you think
you might see the holes in the logic?
Journalist Lady: Well, let me tell my counterpoint, I sat politely and nodded a lot while you waxed poetic but let me tell my side as the righteous truth I know it to be. I may accuse you of selling your propaganda but I will give mine away for free (that makes mine nobler).
Director’s note: Do you think we should include some dramatic action or
can we get away with less staging than a two-man play directed by a novice?
If we include action it should be as static as possible. The lighting guy
has the one camera set up perfect and he doesn’t want to get bogged down
in moving it around.
Let’s have a rallying tagline like: If you don't STAND for something, you
might FALL for anything. Apparently they are counting on the audience falling
for the "star power".
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