Caffeine: The Men Who Stare at Goats (25th Review)

[domble]

[HEADING=1]The Men Who Stare At Goats[/HEADING]​

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC2TzspJn5A[/youtube]

[HEADING=2]Contains Psychedelia, Hippies and Star Wars from the very start.[/HEADING]​

It's amazing how an industry that has been thriving for decades and decades still has the ability to catch you completely off guard.

For those of us too young to remember such an event, we can only imagine the feelings and atmostphere in the air in 1977 when Star Wars was unleashed on an unsuspecting public.
Picture, if you will, a world that was just introduced to the Force and Lightsabers and Ridiculous Haircuts. Imagine the excitement at witnessing the birth of one of the world's greatest franchises. Imagine the joy of Harrison Ford when he realised that taking a slice of the profits rather than a fixed salary was a really smart move.
People as young as myself cannot, all we have is a world were the prequel trilogy was released. Our world is one of crushing disappointment and sheer, dumbfounded disbelief.

What's even harder to envision is a world without this SciFi monolith. Not only would the movie industry be unrecognisable, but the very world we live in.
You see, the art of film changes people. Without great film, I may have done something actually useful with my life... Doctor, Lawyer, Cult Leader... all things I would have excelled at, but instead here I am, preaching about celluloid and all its wonders.

But having said all this, big thoughts don't need big budgets, and they certainly don't need to be billion dollar success stories to puncture the emotional Zeitgeist of our jaded times. No, big words do that.
Take Moon from a few weeks ago, for example. A film with a shoestring budget ($5m, bah! Mere pocket change) has already garnered multiple awards, and has already beaten such films as Donnie Darko and The War of the Worlds in a nationwide Cult Film Festival.
A lack of success does not mean a lack of wonder and intrigue.

So, with all of this in mind, allow me to introduce The Men Who Star at Goats, a film that stands out in a sea of explosions and cliches to make film fresh and necessary again. Begin your training, we shall.

[HEADING=2]"More of this story is true than you might expect."[/HEADING][small]After watching this film, this quote pushes it from dark comedy into the realms of sheer, unbridled horror.[/small]

You may be wondering about yet another reference to Star Wars in the introduction.
The reason is twofold: first, I'm a colossal SciFi nerd who can't make a decision without consulting his "What Would Yoda Do?" bracelet, and second because the film focusses on soldiers trained to use psychic powers against their enemies.
These soldiers are called Jedi.

More on this later - for now let us consider the strongest of the Jedi in Lyn Cassady, played by George Clooney.
Clooney, it has to be said, is on a bit of a roll recently. In fact, let's not mince words, Clooney is to the movie industry what an avalanche is to Nova Scotia.
It seems that he can get away with anything in his career. He flits between genres and varying sizes of film with unbelievable ease and style. One week he's in the star-ridden, mega blockbuster of Ocean's Upteen, then he goes on to give a thoughtful and measured performance in the thoughtful and measured film Good Night, and Good Luck.
His performance in this piece lies smack bang in the middle; he provides enough panache and charisma that you'll love his character, yet the political points he tries to get across come through thick and sharp like a scalpel attached to a sledgehammer.

The film focusses on Cassady through various parts of his life and training as a psychic supersoldier. It's actually amazing to watch a man who can show his grey hair and appear experienced and world-weary, then all he has to do is don a long black wig and he appears to be as naive as a deer which has never seen a lorry before, but holds out hope for a long and beautiful friendship.
Yes, the man is as always a joy to watch. His tongue is firmly in his cheek but his constant winks at the camera can sometimes take you out of the film a little, but you still can't help but love him. This really is Clooney's film, but that doesn't mean his co-stars fade into the distance.

Clooney may be our guide into the world of the Jedi, but the film needed an emotional anchor too, or it just wouldn't work.
Enter former Jedi Ewan McGregor as Bob Wilton. Wilton is a burned out journalist wanting to get back into the saddle and do a cover on the war in Iraq. He teams up with Cassady and begins to learn all about the government's training program.
Throughout the entire film McGregor is as good as he ever is, but it's down to him to project what the audience is thinking about the absurd, presumably true events which are happening on screen. As a result the performance is mostly reactionary, the straight man to try and make sense of what is going on around him. In fact, if you'll indulge me, he is straighter than the CEO of a set square factory that only employs women and lumberjacks.
As a result, he doesn't have the benefit of the juicy lines the rest of the cast enjoy. In the film he's about as funny as... well, a not very funny thing. Sorry, but I've hit my Strained Metaphor quota for the day.

There are two quotas, however, that I will never meet. Those are the ones I have for Kevin Spacey, and my inexhaustible need for vague paragraph links. Spacey is as brilliant as ever, and provides the only logical bad guy the film could really have: The Emperor, AKA Larry Hooper. Hooper is depicted as the man who perverts the teachings of the Jedi for his own needs, leading to extremely funny, but extremely dark, consequences.
It's to the film's credit that the film is so balanced that Spacey doesn't pull his usual trick of etching himself onto your retinas every time he's on screen.

Speaking of people being on screen (see?), Jeff Bridges makes a turn as the colonel-cum-hippy-cum-Jedi Bill Django. His transition from stiff military type to free spirit really sells the film, and without him you get the impression that the whole piece would have descended into farce, the main leads astounding pedigree notwithstanding.

[HEADING=2]"So... We have to start psychic research because the Russians started psychic research because they thought we had started psychic research?"[/HEADING][small]This is the Quote Test. If you like this line, you will like the movie.[/small]

You may have watched the trailer for The Men Who Stare at Goats, but believe me when I say you have no idea what it is about.

Unfortunately I don't either, so I'll just see if I can wing it.
The film is, at points, a pitch-black comedy about the way warfare has evolved over the years.
But it almost comes across as self conscious because in lieu of trying to make any pointed observations it attempts to drown you in a sea of jokes and one liners. When at it's best, the piece will have you laughing constantly at the smallest detail. A perfectly timed quip, an observation on current times that hadn't occurred to you before, anything at all. At full momentum, it has more jokes than I, Robot has product placement[footnote]We actually made an I, Robot drinking game wherein you take a shot every time something is advertised. We woke up three days later in Lewisham with a force ten hangover and a severe need to buy Converse.[/footnote], zing.

The film is almost like a bizarre buddy movie, with Wilton and Cassady travelling to Iraq so that a top secret mission can be completed. As the film progresses we learn all about Django and his pioneering of the Psychic Soldiers program, about Cassady's training and how incorporating different teachings into our culture can really expand our knowledge.
The film has an amazing anti-war vibe going for it. The characters, no matter how absurd, will always resort to psychology before violence. Putting it in that sort of way really diminishes what the film is about, however.
Simply talking about the messages the film tries to convey detracts from what it's really about. As I said before, the emphasis is on the constant, rat-a-tat jokes being fired from every angle.
The film is a constant onslaught of laughter, but in having it set up this way it's hard to get any kind of narrative cohesion going.

As a result it shares the same ailment Brit comedy In the Loop suffers from; it's so desperate to make you laugh that it doesn't care if it gets you lost or not.
When the end credits roll you will no doubt have enjoyed what has happened, but there is a strange feeling of you not quite knowing what just happened to the past two hours of your life.

But there are plenty of films out there that will deal with that minor issue of making sense, and most of those actually star George Clooney, come to think of it. As the title suggests, this is a piece of cinema that wants to stand out from the crowd. It's something different, achingly hilarious and well worth a watch.

Besides, hearing someone tell Ewan McGregor that, one day, he could be a Jedi is worth the price of admission alone.

[HEADING=2]"Now, more than ever, we need the Jedi."[/HEADING][small]If you don't laugh when Obi Wan Kenobi says this, you are officially dead inside.[/small]

The Verdict? Absurd, nonsensical, hard to follow and all the better for it.

This film doesn't bog itself down with moral musings and the terrors of war, it simply presents you with a sharp piece of gut wrenching comedy and expects you to make of it what you will.
Having a trend of films that encourage you to think and draw your own conclusions is nothing short of a revolution for a medium so old.

Big thoughts don't need big bucks. Neither do big laughs.

___________________________________________________________________________________
Can't sleep? Me either.

Spoiler: Stave off your inevitable suicide by reading my other attempts at literature.

Film: In the Loop [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.165442] / Moon [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.162973] / Pulp Fiction [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.156647] / Night Watch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.154980] / X-Men Origins: Wolverine [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.153507] / The Departed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.149527] / Star Trek 2009 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.149058#3470961] / A review of Love Happens (Without seeing it first) [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148846#3460365] / Inglourious Basterds [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147977#3420043] / Fight Club Essay [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147655#3403751] / District 9 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.147097#3373011] / The Crow 4: Wicked Prayer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.137348#3089948]

Game: Modern Warfare II, and the making of Caffeine [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.161600] / Final Fantasy Double Feature [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158465] / Resident Evil 4 Retrospective [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148447#3440710] / Mass Effect [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145571#3296970] / Final Fantasy: Dissidea [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.144913#3266704] / Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.140353#3149506] / Far Cry 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139317#3129015] / Street Fighter IV [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.136868#3079685]

Other: The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z double feature [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.169416] / A Review of Society, via Call of Duty 4 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.151891] / A review of My Cat [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146281#3332788]

 

[Pimppeter2]

Great one, I already told you about the intro, just want to mention that the conclusion was just as good. You started off pretty strong, but at a point around the Plot Summary you became a bit repetitive.

But overall it was a great review, and encouraged me to see this. (As well as Inglorious Bastards, two movies that I sadly missed out)

EDIT: Also encouraged me to reread your review of Society via COD4 for some reason.

 

[Julianking93]

Good review, but I personally didn't really like this movie.

It was okay, but it seemed like it would have been much more fun for the actors to make rather than to watch.

 

[Raven's Nest]

Good review of a great film... The freshest thing I've seen out of hollywood for years...

 

[Olikunmissile]

Just went and watched it. Great film! Good review

 

[domble]

Great review. I've been wanting to see this for a while.

And congratulations on 25 reviews. I didn't think you'd been doing this for that long.

Thanks man Yeah I haven't been doing it for that long, I'm just single.

Great one, I already told you about the intro, just want to mention that the conclusion was just as good. You started off pretty strong, but at a point around the Plot Summary you became a bit repetitive.

But overall it was a great review, and encouraged me to see this. (As well as Inglorious Bastards, two movies that I sadly missed out)

EDIT: Also encouraged me to reread your review of Society via COD4 for some reason.

Yeah i see what you mean there, some kinks need working out

Yeah, cod4 is the one i'm most proud of. I'd have to be, I didn't sleep for a week afterwards... god damn Relentless, being so tasty.

Good review, but I personally didn't really like this movie.

It was okay, but it seemed like it would have been much more fun for the actors to make rather than to watch.

I completely get what you mean, but I loved it. It's rare you see something this original from Hollywood, but to each their own

Nice review, I'm going to go watch Jedi Who Stare at Goats now.

A wise choice, Darth Masochist.
Go forth, do what must be done!

 

[Pimppeter2]

We discussed this on MSN, but I would really like for you to try this style again with another clearer movie. Anything on the plate?

 

[Zersy]

Gonna go watch this movie.

 

[domble]

We discussed this on MSN, but I would really like for you to try this style again with another clearer movie. Anything on the plate?

Well Starfox recommended a film called The Network, so I might give that one a go hopefully it'll be a bit more comprehensible haha

Gonna go watch this movie.

good man, you won't be disappointed. Bewildered and confused maybe, but not disappointed.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Great review. I must now add this to Ye Olde Netflix Queue.

Your review is very smoothly presented. As someone who goes between bullet point formats (current movies & games) to formats such as this (for IT CAME FROM NETFLIX!) I appreciate the merits of both, but your writing style seems to lend itself more to the latter.

Keep up the great work.

 

[hittite]

I watched this movie in a dollar theater a few weeks ago (I'm cheap, so sue me) I agree completely with the review. Go see this. It's well worth your time and your money.

 

[domble]

Great review. I must now add this to Ye Olde Netflix Queue.

Your review is very smoothly presented. As someone who goes between bullet point formats (current movies & games) to formats such as this (for IT CAME FROM NETFLIX!) I appreciate the merits of both, but your writing style seems to lend itself more to the latter.

Keep up the great work.

Hey thanks man although technically I do both of those styles, my reviews always go intro / characters / plot and good points / bad points / verdict... I just camouflage it with meaningless quotes and bad grammar lol

I watched this movie in a dollar theater a few weeks ago (I'm cheap, so sue me) I agree completely with the review. Go see this. It's well worth your time and your money.

A dollar to watch this? You robbed them, you actually robbed them.

... So where can I find one of these one dollar theatres? lol

 

[WolfThomas]

I enjoyed this movie thoroughly having read the book, especially explaining afterwards to a friend who also watched it that most of the stuff was true (in a manner). The only thing I didn't like was how everything from the book and the first earth battalion is portrayed in a ridiculous manner.

While walking through walls, killing with the mind and remote viewing is certainly crazy, there were things like the turning invisible, which in practice was actually being so good at acting, body language and portraying confidence that people would assume you meant to be doing whatever you were doing, the fighting styles based of projection of fear and violence, as well as the combination of frequencies of light and sound that could cause people to feel sick and pass out. All of these are certainly left field but definitely practical in some way.

But more importantly was the ideal that Jim Channon was trying to achieve, soldiers who are still efficient but non violent, who fight as smartly as possible. An army that doesn't just portray aggression but rather hope and stability. Sure a lot is just dreamy idealism, but it was and still is a noble ideal.