Finally saw this on HBO Max. Thought it was a good movie, it did draw me in enough to keep watching. I was worried I'd start, get disinterested and turn it off.

Did think it was pretty apolitical (FTR: My thoughts on the left/right is that it's not a straight line, its more of a circle. Fascists'/Communists at the top, libertarians at the bottom, then conservatives on the right and liberals on the left - not trying to start an argument here). The President is obviously a dictator and IMO the narrative give you the impression he is a fascist (but as I noted not necessarily "right wing" - at the end of the day fascism/communism is evil regardless of what side you want to put them on).

I thought they would flush out the sniper scene a bit more. It just ended with "I have good news".

Plemons scene was pretty intense and I didn't see the SUV running them down coming at all. Caught me completely off guard.

Thought Dunst's death scene was a bit to manufactured. I think we all saw it coming but the whole pass the torch scene was just to in your face.

Puts it out front just how cruel people can be to each other when the gloves come off or the rule of law goes to the side. The sniper scene, some guy is just picking people off from a few hundred yards away from his house. But why? For sport? Same with the 'looters' they see hanging from the bridge and obviously Plemons' scene where they are dumping bodies from a dump truck and he just shoots the two guys because, why not?

Did like the movie and though it was pretty good flick.

Cliff.Booth said:

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Hollywood isn't going to make a movie fearmongering about a Leftist dictator, for obvious reasons. "Fascism" is what they're convinced they see in anyone moderately right of center.

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The Lost City (2005)?

I haven't seen it, but Google tells me that Castro isn't portrayed in a flattering light.

I finally saw this. It was an interesting premise but failed to make me care at all about any of the main characters. The fact that it seemed to try to be an homage to photographers and journalism as a whole was eye rolling. That part reminds me of Station 11 in that it takes an interesting premise, but then turns it into an homage to drama dorks.

I wish they would have followed some soldiers instead. Maybe have a guy fighting for one side realize he's on the wrong side or something like that. Not follow the press around random and disjointed acts of violence.

I think Jesse Plemons stole the show. Weird how he did that with only like 2 minutes of screen time.

I, too, finally got around to watching this one. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't great. What I really like was the cinematography and the overall feel of the movie. It was beautifully shot. It had a very zombie apocalypse feel to it. I think some of the set pieces were taken straight from The Last of Us.

The rest, though, was not great. I think not choosing a side made the whole point of the movie seem pointless. It felt like they were going for a "Free Press is what keeps us free" kind of story, but they never got there. To me, it actually came across as more of, "The press is heartless a-holes who don't give a damn about anyone, just as long as they get the story." To the point, I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to feel at Kristen Dunst's death. I mean, her best friend didn't even give her a second look. He was just like, "Oh, well." And her protege was even more heartless. When Dunst saves her life, she's just like, "Let get a pic of her dying breath." It didn't really give me a positive image of the press.

AustinAg2K said:

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I, too, finally got around to watching this one. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't great. What I really like was the cinematography and the overall feel of the movie. It was beautifully shot. It had a very zombie apocalypse feel to it. I think some of the set pieces were taken straight from The Last of Us.

The rest, though, was not great. I think not choosing a side made the whole point of the movie seem pointless. It felt like they were going for a "Free Press is what keeps us free" kind of story, but they never got there. To me, it actually came across as more of, "The press is heartless a-holes who don't give a damn about anyone, just as long as they get the story." To the point, I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to feel at Kristen Dunst's death. I mean, her best friend didn't even give her a second look. He was just like, "Oh, well." And her protege was even more heartless. When Dunst saves her life, she's just like, "Let get a pic of her dying breath." It didn't really give me a positive image of the press.

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I am curios if their real goal was to bash the press while initially tricking the audience into thinking they were praising the press. Or if they thought they were praising them the whole time and just failed miserably.

Rewatched this weekend and, as much as I liked it the first time, it continues to grow on me. I'm honestly not sure Alex Garland totally understands what he made - better to ignore any of his interviews I think. Thoughts on the two (IMO) real themes of the movie:

1. The role of the press - I don't think the answer here was a clear "the press are heroes" or "look how awful the press is." Lee's goal is unequivocally admirable - document what's happening to try to stop it. But what animates our crew on their road trip isn't a belief that their interview with the President is going to be meaningful in some way - it's just the biggest story out there. Refer to Joel being so angry when they get to the WF base and think they are too late. We also see what the job does to people. Jessie gets reckless to the point of killing Lee, while Lee finally seems to come out of her steely detachment just in time for it to kill her. It's not a flattering portrait. I think we see them as real people subject to selfish flaws like anyone else, even as they do a very difficult and possibly important job.

2. The nature of the war - It's interesting to see so much discussion of who the "good guys" are. I thought it was pretty clear there aren't "good guys" here. It's a civil war, and the results we see are far less focused on large-scale military battles and much more interested in the small-scale sectarian violence that results. It's not about an ideological clash where you can pick a side that's in the right and cheer for them. Take the scene where the militia are clearing the building near the beginning - the "other side" seems to be the government. And that section ends with the militia machine-gunning captives. Jesse Plemons' character is running a mass grave. Even the very last shot is the victorious WF grinning next to the leader they summarily executed. The sniper scene is telling you how to watch the movie - Joel is desperate to understand the sides, but it's irrelevant.