As a fictionalized adaptation about a real U.S. General who was tasked to finish off the real war in Afghanistan, you may play the game of wondering what parts of the movie took huge liberties of what happened, and what probably did actually happen. After seeing the whole movie, you would hope that it really was all fictional, because a lot of ridiculous things are shown and said in this film that probably shouldn't happen in real life. Since this is done as a satire, I choose to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, and pray that it wasn't actually non-fiction.
There are several scenes and lines of dialogue that I did laugh out loud at, and there are signs of cleverness found throughout this movie. There are scenes that are just tongue-in-cheek, or simply moments of poignancy that adds some insight to what goes on behind the scenes of war. It's definitely not your typical movie about the war, because it's mostly about the politics and the social commentary, as opposed to a series of action sequences; although there is one war sequence.
The real draw to see this movie is definitely Brad Pitt as General Glen McMahon. From the way he talks, the squint in his eye, his smile, how he runs, to just the way his hand is always in a particular shape, McMahon is quite the incredible character work for Brad Pitt. The crux of the movie revolves around the things he says and does, as well as his relationships with the U.S. Government, and the different people he meets. Speaking of people, the primary cast of characters that are constantly surrounding the General, are themselves quite an entertaining bunch of men to watch for as well.
I admire this movie to a certain degree, but it's honestly a bit of a mess as well. The pacing, editing, and narrative can feel like a bore at times, or just seemingly aimless. Just juggling some of the voice over monologue, plus the many scenes of exposition, makes the movie either too dry, or just slow moving. The flip-flopping of this movie being brilliant, to it being just uninteresting, is unfortunate. As fascinating as this film can be, it's really not for everyone's taste.
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