Review of The Post (2017) by Dana F — 27 Mar 2018

I was hoping for another "Spotlight" with this movie, but while I did like it a lot, it fell a little short for me. While it is interesting and engaging throughout and sports excellent performances, the story is a little dryer than "Spotlight".

I was expecting a movie about the story that was IN the Pentagon Papers, but this movie is about the battle between freedom of the press and national security. The story behind that fight is way more interesting than the fight itself, so I would have preferred a movie about that (if anyone knows if there already is one, let me know in the comments!).

Nonetheless, Spielberg is a master story-teller and always keeps things interesting. I loved that Meryl Streep's character is not the "take-no-prisoners business woman" cliché that you'd expect; rather, she is a woman who is a product of her times and is paralyzed by her own insecurities, and it was lovely to see Streep play that kind as character.

This movie really exists as a giant middle finger to our current government, the message about the importance of an un-censored media is less than subtle. They may as well have looked straight at the camera and said "We're talking about YOU, Trump!".

This is a quality movie, but given Spielberg's incredible body of work, it's not one of his best.