Review of Frost/Nixon (2008) by Cameron J — 24 Mar 2012

And the award for the most startlingly miscasted U.S. President goes to... Mr. Richard M. Nixon! Countless major motion pictures with countless major casting directors, and yet, you'd think that someone would have looked long enough at a picture of Tommy Lee Jones and said, "There's no way it can not be him", but no; it's just a bunch of long-faced, English horror icons, for some reason, like Hannibal Lecter and now, Dracula, and no, we're not talking Gary Oldman. Actually, if they went with Oldman and actually put the Dracula, massive forehead and fat cheeks, makeup on him, although they still would have been way off, Oldman really would look more convincing, and plus, it would have been neat to see Lee Harvey Oswald actually play JFK's rival, especially when you consider that he'll be working with Sam Rockwell, who he kind of looked like in his youth, but no, we couldn't have even gotten that, at the very least, which is to be expected from someone as crazy as the guy behind "The Da Vinci Code". No, I really do love Ron Howard, and he's made a lot more really smart films, including this one, but seriously dude, you really slipped up with that film, and you didn't do that great with the casting of Frank Langella as Nixon; but hey, I'll give it to you that it was at least just a little bit more convincing than Oliver Stone's casting of Anthony Hopkins. Yup, you're just a "little bit" more competent than a drug-addicted Vietnam vet who built his whole career on ticking people off, and that's not still pretty offensive at all. Actually, it really isn't that much of an insult, because although these two directors didn't have the best taste in people that fit the appearance, you certainly didn't regret they're ultimately pretty smart moves when you saw the two Nixons start to act. Sure, Langella doesn't have quite as much material to kill dead like Hopkins did in "Nixon", but what he is given to work with he's killing dead, reanimating as a zombie and killing re-dead again, and he's not the only one who's doing a fabulous job in this film, and yet, none of that can fully cover up this film's making quite a few missteps outside of casting.

Now, I don't want to be evoking Oliver Stone all the time, but clearly, Ron Howard wants me to, lifting some of Stone's stylistic storytelling techniques straight from his classic political thrillers, starting with an extremely long opening montage of interviews, dramatisations and tensely-toned exposition to catch you up on the situation. The only problem is that nobody could do that stuff as good as Oliver Stone, and even with him, that kind of stuff was rather offputting, so of course the transition out of prolonged Stone mode is jarring, which isn't to say that that's where the jarring shifts in story end. Those interview snippets come and go, yet are so far and few between that they stop you cold for a second once they roll in randomly, and yet, that's the least of the film's offputting transitions, because this film can't even jump between the two sides of the story without throwing you off a bit. Although our leads, Richard Nixon and David Frost, are about equal in their prominence and focus time, their sides of the story differ in theme quite a bit, and with there being little effort put into making the flow between stories organic, you often stumble as you jump back and forth between sides of the story. Of course, there's still plenty of aspects that the two sides have in common, and one of those aspects is slowness, for although the film isn't bone dry, it doesn't always deliver on a real wake-up call. However, when things do pick up, Ron Howard reminds you that, while he's not a perfect storyteller, he knows how to really hit you. It's not as thoroughly gripping as something along the lines of the Oliver Stone political studies that it aims to be in some regards, yet it is consistently compelling, being helped by its more subtle, yet effective execution of the stylistic notes it takes from Stone's political epics.

Stylistically, Oliver Stone's political thrillers are easily more impressive, yet easily more overbearing, often getting too bloated and overstylized to the point of losing steam here and there and even getting repetitive, but Ron Howard's similar stylistic choices, while rarely upstanding, are still noticable enough to appeal to the aesthetic. Whether it be the intensity during the deeper spots of the Frost/Nixon interviews from a storytelling style standpoint or the sometimes handsome cinematography by Salvatore Totino and underused, yet typically phenomenal score by Hans Zimmer from an artistic style standpoint, the film subtley and slowly pulls you in through all of the slowness, while script keeps you locked. Peter Morgan's screenplay isn't glowing, but for someone to translate such a dialogue-driven drama to the screen, you need someone who will be able to keep things going, and who better than to do so than the very writer of the play this film is based on himself? Well, sure enough, Morgan retains the snap, charm and intrigue in the dialogue and set pieces, yet keeps it all down-to-earth to avoid theatrics and incorporate unbiased humanity within all of our characters in order for us to connect and be compelled by them, not just as components of a fascinating political issue, but as people with beliefs and struggles. It's all helped by our wide, colorful, star-studded cast of charmers that all play off of each other with assurance and believability as humans, by their own right, and the people they're portraying. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, in particular, are powerful with their essential chemistry and authenticity in their roles, particularly Langella, who, like the other miscast yet powerful performers in the role, transcends the offputting casting and becomes Nixon. Sure, he's not a sweeping, transformative powerhouse like the bar-raising Anthony Hopkins was in the role, yet Langella still nails the charisma and wit of Nixon, as well as the humanity and layers, and as you watch Langella gracefully and effortlessly jump between the great political mind and flawed humanity of the late legend, you're particularly enthralled, which isn't to say that he doesn't leave plenty of room for his other performers to grip you with their across-the-board electric charisma, chemistry and overall presence.

At the end of the show, the film's stylistic jumps are jarringly, though not quite as much as the jumps between storylines, even though they do have some major slowness in common, yet for every offputting moment, you stand your ground ground, being supported by Ron Howard's sublte, but often effective style and often gripping execution of Peter Morgan's charming and fascinating screenplay that is truly brought to life, not just by Howard, but by the colorful cast lead by a pair of confident, charismatic and huauntingly human, as well as authentic performances by Michael Sheen and, especially, Frank Langella, thus leaving "Frost/Nixon" to stand as a very engaging recount of Richard Nixon's and David Frost's notoriously impacing duel of the minds.

3/5 - Good.