| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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One Great Hour!
by JosephH (movies profile)
Jan 30, 2008
22
of
27 people found this review helpful
"Charlie Wilson's War" has one great hour. It pulls you in and keeps you there for the second half, which, at best, is decent. However, that first hour alone is well worth the price of admission.
The dialog is some of the wittiest I have heard--ever. The teaser in the promo, you know, the one characterizing Gust as no James Bond, but Charlie as no Thomas Jefferson, "so, let's just call it even," is precisely that, a teaser. A sure-fire classic, the exchange is only a promise of a cleverly written script, a kept promise at that (ironic, considering the story is essentially about politics!).
The dialog and the characterizations save this movie. More accurately, they make this movie. For one hour. Then the plot gets tedious, having to deal with a whole series of events that, as in a high-school history class, has to be covered.
As was expected, considering who made the movie, and not very far below the surface, there is the obvious political message of the movie, one that is a lumbering distraction from the film's entertaining value, one that is predictably truth-challenged, and one that I won't deal with here. (If you know where to look, you can read what I have to say about that elsewhere.)
Despite the second-half let-down, I highly recommend Charlie Wilson's War. I am a bit disappointed with a film that I expected to be one of the year's best. To be sure, the cast is incredible, living up to its stellar credentials, but, despite the story bogging down in the second half, it's still well worth seeing in the theaters. On the other hand, if you want to wait for DVD or cable, that is a valid option. This is Christmas. There are a lot of other good choices in the theaters. "Charlie" provides just another solid entry among many. |
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