Review of Good Kill (2015) by Leon B — 07 Aug 2015

Review:

I quite enjoyed this movie because it shows a side of war which has never really gone under the microscope. Although the movie is based around violence, it's really a drama about a drone control fighter pilot who controls a drone to bomb the Taliban. Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke), really wants to fly a plane but the lack of faith from his boss means that he is stuck in his job so he takes out his frustration on his wife and he starts to have a taste for alcohol. When the orders start coming from a different source and they start to take out innocent people along with questionable suspects, he starts to lose faith is his career and his drinking habits begins to become a problem all round. We have all seen many war movies were you can see and hear the enemy but in this case, the soldier has to rely on a questionable source and you really don't know who they are bombing. On top of that, the main characters in this movie are stuck in a cubicle in the middle of Las Vegas and there just using a joystick to destroy there enemies which starts to take its toll of the soldiers because they don't know if there really doing any good. The performances were great and very realistic and the storyline really does show how a job like that, can change a person's life. I found the subject matter quite interesting and I would have liked to have seen more money and bigger actors portraying such a delicate concept. That's not to say that the director done a bad job with this film and I'm sure that there was many obstacles that the director had to tackle to tell this story because it's about something that it happening under the radar in everyday life. In some ways, it's giving some sympathy to the Taliban, which I'm sure many Americans will totally be against, so the director done well by showing different points of view. Personally I was expecting a bit more as the movie goes along but I know that there are many restrictions to what information could have been released. Anyway, I enjoyed the film, basically because I actually learnt something and the intense drama and emotional storyline made it a joy to watch. Enjoyable!

Round-Up:

This film was directed by Andrew Niccol who has only directed 7 movies in his career but they have really been some good ones. The movies are S1mone, Gattaca, Lord Of War, which I really enjoyed, In Time, The Minutes, The Host and of course this movie. He also wrote and produced the Truman Show and the Terminal so he has really made some big films with some established directors and actors. This movie really does need to be made on a bigger scale so it can show people what they have to go through. Maybe it's times for directors to stop making all he those remakes and try and come out with something original like this movie is. Anyway, at 44 years old, Ethan Hawke has had quite a rollercoaster of a career with the straight to DVD movie Predestination to the critically acclaimed movie Boyhood. He's also well known for his role in Training Day and Great Expectations so he has been in and out of the spotlight all the way through his career. Personally I think that he acts the same in a lot of his movies but he has played many different roles which has made him a versatile actor who hasn't become type casted. I've always liked Bruce Greenwood, 58, who has starred in over 100 movies which include Star Trek Into Darkness, I, Robot and Flight. Anyway, I liked the subject matter of this film and the execution wasn't bad but it's a subject which really needs a big budget and a big distribution campaign behind it.

Budget: N/A.

Worldwide Gross: $695,000.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/thrillers about a drone control pilot who starts to question his job after bombing innocent people in Afghanistan. 6/10.