A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army's New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.
George Clooney
Lyn Cassady
Ewan McGregor
Bob Wilton
Jeff Bridges
Bill Django
Kevin Spacey
Larry Hooper
Robert Patrick
Todd Nixon
Stephen Lang
Brigadier General Dean Hopgood
Waleed Zuaiter
Mahmud Daash
Stephen Root
Gus Lacey
Glenn Morshower
Major General Holtz
Nick Offerman
Scotty Mercer
Tim Griffin
Tim Kootz
Rebecca Mader
Debora Wilton
Jacob Browne
Lieutenant Boone
Todd Lawson LaTourrette
Dave
Brad Grunberg
Ron
Elsa Villafane
Gus' Mother
Fawad Siddiqui
Kuwait Waiter
Samuel Ray Gates
Journalist #1
McCaleb Burnett
Journalist #2
Robert Curtis Brown
General Brown
Hrach Titizian
Kidnapper #1
Shafik N. Bahou
Kidnapper #2
Christopher Maher
Iraqi Driver
Matt Newton
Chris - Viet Nam Pvt.
Kevin Wiggins
Major General Jack Gillian
JJ Raschel
Clifford Hickox
Arron Shiver
Norm Pendleton
Jaime Margarida
Major General Pendleton
William Sterchi
Bob's Editor
Drew Seltzer
Technician
Donn Lamkin
Lyn's Father
Sean Curley
Lyn (12 years old)
Michael-David Aragon
Insurgent
Morse Bicknell
Ben Echmeyer
Kevin Geer
CIA Agent
Chick Bernhard
Krom - SUV
Steve Witting
PSIC Worker #1
Diego Serrano
Krom - Chilean
Director
Grant Heslov
Novel
Jon Ronson
Screenplay
Peter Straughan
April 5, 2020
7
Considering the star power here (Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey) I can understand why people might feel somewhat disappointed when they watch it. I mean, the description even mentions the Coen brothers as a basis for comparison. With Jeff Bridges' role, it was difficult not to think of The Big Lebowski, but this film isn't of that caliber.
Still, I thought it was entertaining most of the time. There were slow interludes that could have been removed to improve the pacing without harming the story. But if you understand that they aren't going for laugh out loud gags or one-liners, but rather they work for their punch lines or leave you to figure out where the joke is, maybe you can appreciate it more.
I will say that the plot seemed a bit disjointed to me. The flashbacks weren't confusing, but in a slower paced film like this one, I think they were sometimes more of a distraction than plot-enhancers. The ending also had an air of an anticlimax to it, like - oh, okay. I guess it fit the laid back mood of the rest of the movie, but they might have done more with it.
Still, I liked it. Enough said.