No Goat. No Glory. THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
Written: Nov 06 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Psychic Warriors Killing Goats with their Minds. George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, and their Butts.
Cons: I hurt myself laughing. Eight times.
The Bottom Line: Brilliant, funny and absurd, this is part war story, part acid trip, and all entertaining.
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| talyseon's Full Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats |
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) Directed by Grant Heslov from the book by Jon Ronson
Larry Hooper: Lieutenant Colonel Django used funds from the project's black budget to procure prostitutes...
Bill Django: That's a lie!
Larry Hooper: ...and to get drugs for himself and his men.
Bill Django: That... well, the hooker thing is definitely a lie.
Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is a man dying a life of quiet desperation. A coworker died in the office and his wife left him for his editor, and like so many men before him, he took his broken heart and went to war.
As a correspondent waiting to get into Iraq, he had time on his hands. Fate and circumstance brought him together with Lynn Cassidy (George Clooney) a name he had heard before as one of the most gifted psychics to ever grace America's Psy Ops program.
The story is really two stories; the adventures of Bob and Lynn travelling through Iraq as Lynn struggles to complete a mission, and as Bob struggles to find the meaning in this story, and his life; and the story of how Lynn got where he is, told in narrative flashback.
Lynn had come to the attention of Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) as Bill was building the New Earth Army, a radical approach to warfare combining the discipline of the military with the aesthetics of a monk, with Jedi Mind Tricks and LSD thrown in. Bill might not have been super clear on what he was trying to do, but he was super clear about what he was not. He was not building a fighting force. He was building super soldiers that would use the powers of their minds to defeat the enemy without harming them. The operation was called Project Jedi, and Lynn was its star pupil.
But where the Jedi exist, there is also a Sith, and in this case, the Sith is Larry Hooper, (Kevin Spacey). Larry was jealous of Lynn's greater power, and strove to best him anyway possible. Sadly, as is so often the case, this was not too difficult to do in a military environment, and in the ensuing fall out, Bill Django, who had never made friends with his longhair and hippy ways, was out, and as so often the case, the snake rose to the top of the heap, and Larry Hooper took over, and took the project in a new direction.
One of the most interesting and direct uses of psychic power is the ability to stop the heart of a living creature. Hooper had a plan, and a supply of bleatless goats, used previously to train medics how to treat gunshot wounds in the field. Project Goat would shoot an animal in the leg, and the medic had to patch it up on the spot. Project Goat had originally been called Project Dog, but soldiers had too many problems being ordered to shoot dogs in the leg. Goats were okay.
Sadly, they were not Okay for Lynn. When told what to do, he thought he would stare at the goat, and claim to fail, and put a stop to the silliness. But he felt a surge, and then, suddenly, the goat died. Project Goat was a success, Larry Hooper was a success, and Lynn had gone over to the Dark Side.
Lynn quit the program, finished his tour, and got out. But he never recovered from the curse of the goat, or Larry Hooper's parting gift; the Dim Mak, or quivering death palm. Lynn knew his days were numbered.
And so here are two men, in Iraq, one seeking redemption, one seeking purpose. This is their story. And it is hilarious.
I have rarely heard so much laughter in the theater. This film is absurd, but it is serious about its absurdity. And the very best part of it, better even than the buttshots of George Clooney and Ewan McGregor is the fact it is (more or less) true.
Clooney is brilliant as the psychically gifted and possibly psychotic Lynn Cassidy. He sells the performance that sells Bob Wilton. Ewan McGregor is wicked funny as a man who wants to believe. At first, he thinks it is in Lynn, but eventually, he discovers it is just to believe in something. And Kevin Spacey as Larry Hooper. There is one in every group; just like there is one on every human body. I think you can figure out what I mean.
The score is worth noting; it features some brilliant Classic rock used to underscore the action, and transport you back in time. Like Lynn, it makes you want to let go and dance.
The New Earth Army was a dream, and like all dreams, it was doomed to wake. However, not before it turned into a nightmare. Ultimately, this is a story of hope, redemption, and the power to make a better world, in the face of human nature. It is funny, intelligent, witty, absurd, and heartwarming by turns. I give it my highest recommendation.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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