Clash of the titans; Sheen & Langella are superb

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2009)

FROST/NIXON (2008) ***1/2 Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen, Kevin Bacon, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones. Ron Howard's skillful direction of Peter Morgan's smash play about the famous televised interviews conducted by British personality David Frost and United States President Richard Nixon (played to the hilt exquisitely by Sheen and Langella) comes across as a sharply executed clash of the titans with the expertly timed thrusts and parries of their conversational hours comprised for the world to see in all its infamous glory is a job well done. While much has been fictionalized one cannot discount the two leads' uncanny portrayals of larger-than-life people in recent history and the two talented thesps eat up like bread on gravy. Truly remarkable thespianic displays fully realized.