This film should have been a much greater pleasure than it actually was. Essentially two conversations linked by an action piece closely connected to said conversations.

Senator Jasper Irving's new Afghanistan policy takes effect in the country, involving two former students, now soldiers taking part in the offensive, of a college professor (Redford), while he tries to convince a failing but brilliant student (Garfield) to do more with his life, while reporter (Streep) gets the scoop on Irving's new policy from the man himself. All three sequences taking place at the same time.

The two conversation pieces are excellent - with Streep and Cruise, Redford and the able newcomer Garfield, you would expect no different. They are sharp, detail laden, full of statistics, insightful, factual and twisty - but they are nothing new. The film is a summation of all the headlines we've read in the past seven years and, like Irving's military strategy, can't push past them into new… more »

This film should have been a much greater pleasure than it actually was. Essentially two conversations linked by an action piece closely connected to said conversations.

Senator Jasper Irving's new Afghanistan policy takes effect in the country, involving two former students, now soldiers taking part in the offensive, of a college professor (Redford), while he tries to convince a failing but brilliant student (Garfield) to do more with his life, while reporter (Streep) gets the scoop on Irving's new policy from the man himself. All three sequences taking place at the same time.

The two conversation pieces are excellent - with Streep and Cruise, Redford and the able newcomer Garfield, you would expect no different. They are sharp, detail laden, full of statistics, insightful, factual and twisty - but they are nothing new. The film is a summation of all the headlines we've read in the past seven years and, like Irving's military strategy, can't push past them into new successful analysis. The military sequence is also curiously flat, though again they convince in their realism.

Fans of solid political drama will likely enjoy this, and I did, but with so many films now dealing with the events of the last few years, this just can't break out from the crowd, despite it's cast giving it their absolute best.