Fizzled Out

Rating: Null/10 (20 November 2009)

After this year, it seems like we've just been disappointed back and forth with movies. We've only had a few really good movies released and The Men Who Stare at Goats seemed like it was going to pick things up. From the trailer, this not only looked like it was going to be a hit, but a possible award contender. Kevin Spacey, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, this is an awesome powerhouse cast! Everything about this movie equaled towards a hit. But unfortunately it did fall flat. I saw this opening weekend and was really excited, but once again we are left with that "the funny parts are in the trailer" excuse. While the performances are good and the cast and crew gave it their all, I think it was just the story that really wasn't interesting. Because you know some of the story is fictional and not sure what to believe.
Daily Telegram reporter Bob Wilton, who stumbles onto the story of a lifetime when he meets a Special Forces operator, Lyn Cassady after flying to Kuwait out of anger, due to a recent divorce with his wife, who then proceeded to marry Bob's editor. Lyn reveals that he was part of an Americian army unit training psychic spies, trained skills including; invisibility, remote viewing, cloud bursting, walking through walls, and intuition. The founder of this unit Bill Django traveled across America in the 1970s for six years exploring a range of New Age movements after getting shot during the Vietnam War and used these experiences to found the New Earth Army. In the 1980s, two of Django's best recruits were Lyn Cassady and Larry Hooper developed a lifelong rivalry. Desperate for a good story, Bob dwells into Lyn's world to find out if it's nothing but a crazy story or a fun reality.
This movie had so much potential that I hate to say anything bad about it. I waned to love this film, the trailer had me laughing so hard and Kevin Spacey is my man, he's one of my favorite actors in the world, but I guess when you have a story that falls flat, you can't help that. Now I'm just going to say that it's a rental, while it's not a great movie like everyone was expecting, I don't think it was worth the theater price. But I will compliment on some things, the cast does have pretty good chemistry and where I think it should have concentrated more was on the interesting relationship between Clooney and McGregor, their chemistry worked so well and it was funny to see how McGregor would react to these stories. Also it gets more funny when he wants to be a psychic soldier too and that he has possibilities and powers to do so. I think the flashbacks on how Clooney became a soldier were interesting, but it didn't keep the movie strong. Good cast, good effort, just not a hit though like it should have been.
6/10