Review of The Post (2017) by Lamontraymond — 23 Dec 2017
It's a decent film, but doesn't provide any of the real juicy depth in the story. Tom Hanks is the primary weakness in the film - his performance pales on comparison to Jason Robards' performance in All The President's Men.
Bradlee was a much tougher, acerbic, dynamic figure than Hanks displays. And Sarah Paulson as Tony Bradlee is equally as weak. (As an aside, when she says she was "sad" looking at the picture of she, Ben, Jack, and Jackie, I wish Spielberg had gone the step further to explain WHY she was said - what happened on the boat - when Jack assaulted her, which was discussed so artfully in the recent HBO doc on Ben's life.
) The other primary weakness is the Daniel Ellsberg role. Matthew Rhys is outstanding, but I wanted to know more about how and why he decided to leak the papers. (Especially given the recent actions of RealityWinner and Snowden.
) The Vietnam sequence in the beginning is wasted. Also, Bradley Whitford hams it up like he does in most roles, largely to negative effect. Meryl Streep really saves the film with an elegant, nuanced performance, though again, I would have loved just a bit more information about how a 45-year-old who never held a job in her life was able to transition in to the primary ownership role of the Washington Post.
This review of The Post (2017) was written by Lamontraymond on 23 Dec 2017.
The Post has generally received positive reviews.
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