Man who stares at Jeff Bridges face...

The Men Who Stare At Goats – Grant Heslov

I love Jeff Bridges, i really do, the man is a living legend, and I would any film with him in it, especially his films of the last ten years. And i love Tron. It clearly stems from that film and his awesome geeky performance. Now, with the revitalising career, he’s being placed in films, left, right and centre, playing the villain in Iron Man, then getting award nods for Crazy Heart (the review coming very soon) and now with this, Men Who Stare At Goats, and he’s not even the lead man, George Clooney is. Bridges here does steal the show in every scene he’s in, but it’s with the likes of Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, something like a legend Bridges can do. Playing a spaced out hippy who believes that mind powers exist and that people can be used to kill terrorists. It’s very funny. The reason i chose to see it, is because of the lead actors. Clooney in Up in the Air and Fantastic Mr Fox gave me hope that he is decent and not some good-looking guy just playing on it and some ER reject. Harsh words i know. McGregor is a hit and miss for me. Trainspotting is awesome, Down With Love, not so much. Star Wars Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith, big fan, episode 1 and 2, i want to kill him. So ups and downs. Spacey is great in mostly everything and his turn of being the dicky villain works.

A highly secret unit of soldiers in the war were created to combat soldiers in a different form: through the mind. Set up by Bridges character, he recruits Clooney and Spacey, a bit of rivalry occurs between the two and leads to the program being destroyed. A few years later, a writer, McGregor, wants to write a story about the war, he goes to the country and happens to bump into Clooney. They begin to talk and McGregor wants to write the story of the whole thing, get it published. They delve deeper into the program and find results that are shocking. Very funny, very political and very now. It has messages about the war happening now, almost making fun of it. And it’s good to see intelligent humour once again but does have points of slapstick, stoner comedy elements.

Overall, a decent film, something just to switch into, it won’t change your view or become an instant classic, but it’s funny. i didn’t have high hopes for it, so was pleasantly surprised, go into the film expecting nothing and you’re guaranteed to come away happy.

6/10

Simon Childs