Review of JFK (1991) by Christian C — 29 Jun 2016

Feverish editing - and frequent uses of screens within the screen - give the viewer a taste of the national chaos that Stone is trying to capture. So on the score, the movie is a success.

But the plot itself is frustratingly implausible, regardless of its rooting in history. Stone lays out compelling evidence over the course of the first two hours, and then Kevin Costner's DA draws all the wrong conclusions.

Following a deus ex machina appearance from Donald Sutherland as a Deep Throat-esque informant with *all* of the answers, Costner attempts to prosecute a conspiracy perpetuated by (I think) the CIA and military through a cabal featuring members of the the military industrial complex, the homosexual underground, the anti-Castro movement, the Mafia, and the Russian intelligence apparatus.

It's tempting to dismiss Stone's presented theory as intentionally tongue-in-cheek, but John Williams' patriotic score and Stone's closing title cards - one of the director's typically angry tirades about the price of Vietnam - suggest that he might have been taking himself seriously.

It's a bit of a waste, because there is certainly something hidden behind Kennedy's assassination. This movie diminishes that truth as it preaches about the importance of governmental transparency.