previewbox

To borrow the opening from the PreviewBox.com review of ‘The Kingdom‘ . . . “Welcome to Hollyweird’s not-so-new cash cow . . . the mid-east war movie” - though we’ll call this the executive version since MGM and Mr Redford made the decision to focus more on the diplomacy of the war rather than the soldiers.

That glittering generality aside, what is this movie about?  Lions for Lambs has tossed out big names and familiar faces (Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep) posturing in some very serious scenes, though no one says anything that alludes to a plot - or even to the existence of a script.  To be fair, clips are available online that depict Mr Redford making a few pseudo-political comments, so perhaps this is simply a poor attempt by big-budget Hollyweird to make a relevant, gritty, political commentary.  Barring that remote possibility, in essence, for ninety minutes, we see very big, important-looking but irrelevant actors, playing very big, important-looking but irrelevant characters, in a very big, important-looking film where basically nothing happens.

On second thought, it’s a lot like actual politics.  That being the case, this is an accurate but boring film that for once proves that film shouldn’t be like real life.