Pop Culture Reviews

Distributor: Sony Entertainment  Released: 2009 Genre: Drama Credits: Writers: Stanley Weiser Director: Oliver Stone Starring: Joss Brolin, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, Richard Dreyfuss Rating: M

This DVD was supplied by Sony Pictures New Zealand for review

It has been a long time since I’ve settled down to watch a recently released Oliver Stone movie. And despite W. having a strong cast and a director who is no stranger to controversy, W. wasn’t getting any serious considerations as a ‘must see’ movie for me. However, I’m a fan of Josh Brolin’s work, especially after seeing his fantastic acting performances in 2007’s No Country for Old Men and Milk last year so was reasonably keen to review this on DVD. And of course, Oliver Stone’s direction in Natural Born Killers was brilliant.

After admitting I am not a huge fan of politically fueled movies, I was very impressed by W. And other than what I’ve read online or watched on the news, I could probably be considered one of the least knowledgeable people on the subject of George W. Bush.

Josh Brolin covered his bases well portraying Bush and I was equally impressed by Thandie Newton’s almost doppleganger-like resemblence to Condoleezza Rice. It was difficult to ascertain whether W. was supposed to be a biopic or simply a piece of well-written drama about some (mostly) factual occurrences in the life of a young to middle-aged George W. Bush.

It’s also difficult to classify the right type of audience for W. If you like political movies, you may not necessarily enjoy W. due to its overly dramatic content. Although Bush eventually became president, W. depicts a younger Bush as a bit of a rebel, unsure of his future path in politics until much later on in life. The political content seems to trickle in and out of the story of George W. Bush’s upbringing and whilst the movie focuses on flashbacks of his past before he became president, it doesn’t seem to hold the audience there for long.

Stone’s struggle to find balance between the drama, the history, the facts and the politics may not be a smooth ride but the end result is a decent percentage of all four aspects wrapped up in a nice little bow.

PCR Rating:

[starreview tpl=16]