Nixon Oliver Stone's Nixon is best when it's dazed and confused. And then the scene cuts to his funeral, where Clinton and Dole declare him a good guy. This blurring doesn't make Nixon special, particularly among politicians or filmic objects. And the blurring, which is the most interesting part of this film, or Stone's work more generally, gets lost in the rush to make absolute claims.
Some folks defend the guy's vision, passion and technique.
In Nixon Stone's relentless-meter is dialed way up. From here, the movie advances an overwrought, condensed profile of Tricky Dick the Tragic Hero. Like Welles' Kane or Shakespeare's HamletMacbethLear, Stone's Nixon is huge, ambitious and afraid, brilliant and petty. The tragedy, no surprise, comes in Nixon's lack of self-consciousness. None of this is subtle.