Review of Lions for Lambs (2007) by Steve G — 21 Dec 2013

Stereotypical ideological posturing. A lame exercise in proscenium dialectics.

Pure fence-sitting liberal agony is all that's on offer here, in a muddled and pompous film about America's war on terror. Full of cardboard characters, unconvincing situations, corny dialogue, empty performances posing as profound, and shallow partisan arguments showing how phony much of the "thinking" on the left end of the political spectrum really is.

A massive Bush-era cliche. A sanctimonious, faux-thoughtful, masturbatory, left-wing circle jerk.

The all-feeling empath professor, kickin' back & swearing with student/buddies. The crusading reporter, brimming with self-righteousness. The evil GOP politician. If only the left hated terrorists as much as it hates Republicans. If only they blamed the people who pulled the trigger as much as they blame the people as much as the people who want to stop them. A couple of tiny glimpses of nuance toward the end, but only fleetingly. Reverted quickly back to one-dimensional cut-outs. Trying desperately to hearken back to their glory days of feeling self-righteous about 'Nam, while costing thousands of South Vietnamese their lives.

The most egregious sin of all is misquoting The Who to support 60s liberalism, when the very purpose of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' was to attack 60s liberalism! Unforgivable!

Tom Cruise is my favorite actor. I have seen every one of his movies, but one. Nothing in me wanted to. I had to force myself, on pain of death. A hopelessly preachy, nauseating preachfest. The worst movie Cruise has ever been a part of. It makes Losin' It look like Citizen Kane.

Note- the narrative with the two soldiers is so dark that I literally can't even see what's happening.

I have officially seen every Tom Cruise movie. At least I have something to boast about following this.