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Charlie Wilson's War - Movie Review Hot

Movie Reviews

Release Date: December 21, 2007
Studio: Universal Pictures
MPAA Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Aaron Sorkin, George Crile
Cast: Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Synopsis: A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
The Review: Your Critic for the Evening: Erich Wood.
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." The Bible, Matthew 5:38

"An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind."
Mahatma Gandhi

SPOILERS BELOW-GET OVER IT!

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR tells the based on true events story of Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson who, in the 1980s, got the US to covertly finance the arming (by which I mean putting big guns into the hands of) and
training the freedom fighters of Afghanistan against the invading Soviet army. You could say this was good because the Soviets got their red asses kicked back home and this really really helped the fall of the
USSR and the end of the cold war.

You could also say this was bad because, following the Soviet occupation, Afghanistan became the really really well armed and well-trained breeding ground for groups like Al-Qaeda and individuals like Osama bin
Laden.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE
The song "Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and be Loved)" by Omaha, Nebraska based indie-rock group The Bright Eyes has these great lyrics: "We'll take eye for an eye/Until no one can see/And we will stumble blindly forward/Repeating history" Sing along if you know the tune.(Wow! I can hear the rousing voices from the CIA offices in Washington, D.C. from here!)
END MUSICAL INTERLUDE

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR is a smart film, written by the master of snappy sparkling dialogue-A FEW GOOD MEN's and "The West Wing's" Aaron Sorkin, and directed by the master of dry satire, Mike (THE GRADUATE, PRIMARY COLORS) Nichols. In fact, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, may be too smart for its own goddamned good. Why? I'll get there in a minute.

I'll talk about the characters while you try and figure where I'm going with this. Does that sound fair? I guess not.

The film's biggest asset is the wonderful Tom Hanks. He easily slides into his Texas accent, and completely dons the wholly likeable multifaceted character of CHARLIE WILSON with equal ease.

CHARLIE is an old fashioned politico, hiring the prettiest female staffers this side (or that side really-I guess it depends on where you're reading this) of the Potomac River, drinking liberally and often, and enjoying the not so infrequent pleasures of the flesh, including the

"sixth wealthiest woman in Texas": Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts). Which brings us to the film's biggest problem, which can be summed up in two words: Julia Roberts. Miss Roberts does, too, pull off a completely convincing Texas twang, but for the rest of her ...let's just say she's as pretty as an Oval Office marble bust and just as lifelike. Her larger-than-life face is like the Titanic-you're good for a number of beauty shots around the bow, but after a while, you're just
waiting the damn iceberg.

I have nothing against Julia herself. A few years ago, I caught her on a PBS special called "Into the Wild: Orangutans with Julia Roberts". She was without makeup or any kind of movie star artifice as she wandered about, playing momma to some very lucky little orangutan babies, letting them scamper all over her, climbing onto her face and even laughing hysterically ('cause really, what else can you do in such a situation?) when one of the little guys pooed on her Erin Brockoviches.

By contrast, Amy (ENCHANTED) Adams shines as Wilson's overly capable administrative assistant. If you liked Aaron Sorkin's fast-talking fictional harried heroines like "The West Wing's" Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) or "Sports Night's" Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd),
then you should already have a soft spot in your heart ready for her that you just didn't know about, like the pie shaped wedge of open space in your stomach that mysteriously shows up at the end of a traditional Thanksgiving feast every year.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman turns in another brilliant performance as the anything but typical CIA man Gust Avrakotos. Gust's problem is he's brilliant but he's bored, and he's bored because he's been overlooked for the assignment he trained for and he's just been given a shit assignment far below the level of his abilities (Put your hand down. I wasn't taking a poll about who feels the same way. I know. We'll talk afterwards, okay?)

He and Charlie find a common ground in wanting
to kick the USSR in their Afghanistan mountains and the film's plot and their friendship grows from there.
Okay, back to my theory about CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR. The writing and directing are brilliant, the cast is roundly (as in working around Julia Roberts) exceptional and the film, in total is a fantastic piece of work. So why the allegorical long face on this reviewer? Because CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR is a showcase piece of cinema. I predict it will earn
many rave reviews, garner multiple nominations from several award and Award(TM) sources, and will take home many gold-plated statues, plaques, medals and who knows what else along the way.

But will anyone want to see it?

I find it amusing that it's easier to market Johnny Depp as an all-singing, all-dancing 19th century psychopathic cockney barber, than it is to sell a political drama/comedy set in the good old days of the Reagan era. And CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR is a very funny film. This is not a serious movie. Okay, it is a serious movie about a serous subject. But, the
film moves along at a steady clip, Tom Hank's butt makes an early appearance, and about the same time you get to see two nubile young maidens frolicking in a Jacuzzi's surf (and their boobs) and there's plenty
of profanity to entertain the kids throughout.
Even the distributor, entertainment giant Universal Pictures doesn't have a clue how to market the flick. I have only seen ONE television advert thus far, the poster with (from left to right) Hanks, Hoffman and
Roberts is laughably lame and the poster's tagline of: "A stiff drink. A little mascara. A lot of nerve. Who said they couldn't bring down the Soviet empire. " doesn't even know if it needs a question mark at the end. Too bad.

This film contains several graphic depictions of what it looks like from the point-of-view out of the cockpit of a Soviet helicopter, as it strafes and bombs Afghani villages and villagers. I was reminded of
several First-person shooter video games I've seen, like DOOM or Duke Nukem, and I found the odd comparison left me cold. Later on, using new and historic footage, the film tallies the rising numbers of Soviet planes, helicopters, tanks and fortifications blown to pieces by the Afghan rebels. When I thought of the awful Afghan refugee camps and the wounded children I had seen earlier in the film, I felt a little chill of excitement seeing the Soviet planes go down and the tanks blow up before my brain kicked into gear.

I found I began to mourn the loss of the Soviet troops, too. Ranting along here, I began to think these goddamned shoot'em up video games are making it easier and easier, not only imagine blowing people up, but I would think if you've seen several pixel'd persons shot to blood chowder, then the actual shock of evaporating just one real live human being would be greatly lessened. Wouldn't it?

Have you ever noticed that from PONG to HALO, videogames are often trumpeted for increasing "hand-eye coordination" skills? As a former spaz, I don't want to decry anything against improving upon such skills, but when was the last time anything indicated it was good for increasing "Brain to Heart coordination"?

Perhaps CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR: THE VIDEOGAME (available on PS3, X-Box and Wii available at all finer videogame stockists) will be the first.

Okay, so I'm sure this film, even if it's not watched by the television watching masses, it will certainly be talked over by the asses on the other side of the screen. I'm saying you can bet the political pundits will be jumping on CHARLIE WILSON from both sides.
As a guy who wants to put the PUN back into punditry, the film IS political in that it shows politicians and the way they actually work and the you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours deal-making processes; the
nights of drinking, screwing and compromising.
But anyone who wants to fault the film for its conclusion really can't blame anyone but the real people that made the movie's end what it is.

The ending to CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR reminded me of the ending of Tim Burton's ED WOOD. Like that movie ending on the up beat of the premiere of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR nearly neatly and happily ends with the evil Soviet empire leaving Afghanistan.
But, CHARLIE WILSON'S final minutes indicated that perhaps the US should have provided additional resources to the people of the war-ravaged lands of Afghanistan after the covert war ended.

At the end Charlie Wilson couldn't even raise a paltry one million bucks for a schoolhouse in Afghanistan.
It sucks that the US of A could covertly bring together the still-clashing nations of Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia together covertly to oust the "bad guys" but at the end, a lone Charlie Wilson
couldn't even raise a paltry one million bucks for a school house in Afghanistan.

Captain Spock summed it best in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN "I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications.... As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create. "

Supposing the events of the upcoming ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM actually should come to pass and the planet Earth is about to be overrun by drooling and bloodthirsty beasties from beyond, I'm not scared a
single bit. CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR proves that nobody can kill human beings en masse like other human beings.

Yeah.Merry F'ing X-Mas kiddies!

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR rates 8.75 FIZZBINS out of a possible 10 FIZZBINS.

PS. Did you know the official website of The Central Intelligence Agency has a Kid's Page? Check it out at
https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/index.html. Tell them Erich sent you. Well, you better not

Until Next Time,
Erich Wood
Rating: 4 out of 5

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