The Men Who Stare at Goats: Review

The Men Who Stare at Goats
Directed by Grant Heslov
Starring: George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Obi-Wan, and Kevin Spacey

All right, this movie isn’t great. It’s not quite sure what it wants to be. Is it a dark comedy? Or just a comedy? Is it in any way serious? Well, sort of. Is this paragraph confusing and disjointed? Kind of.

In some ways, the movie works. Clooney is quite committed and funny, Jeff Bridges, equally so. Kevin Spacey is suitably evil as he often is, but Luke’s teacher is kind of left in the breeze, to be the butt of Jedi jokes and the apparent straight man in a film that’s not even sure if it’s a comedy.

The film is about the (seriously!) true story of a group of soldiers who are trained in psychic abilities to be used against the enemy (the army hopes) or to bring about world peace (the psychic soldiers hope). Naturally, the group is sabotaged by the jealous and the sceptical, and by too many failures to counter the successes. Ridiculous redemption awaits us in the end; however, the movie does touch on some serious themes (Iraq War, the brutality of “hired” security soldiers, the individual Iraqis whose lives have been destroyed, kidnapping, etc.) but never gives them their due. Now, you, the good-looking reader, might think I’m belittling this movie because of its psychic claims; far from it. It’s an absolute fact that this unit did exist, and remote viewing was used, often successfully, for years (although they claim now they don’t use it). It’s the film that belittles the reality and uses any “truth” for laughs. I heard the author of the book that it’s based on being interviewed on the radio, and at first he was pretty pissed about their treatment of his story—it wasn’t a comedy to him. However, in the end he was all right with it. He realized that a story this hard to believe must first be introduced through comedy; let the jester tell the truth, it’s easier to digest.

Point of interest: If you want to check out the “real” story behind the Hollywood treatment, go to coasttocoastam.com and search Jim Channon and check out what he has to say. What’s Coast to Coast AM? It is the most listened to “late night” radio show in the world and it specializes in stories that the mainstream media ignores. Sometimes it focuses on pretty ordinary things, the economy, the environment; and other times it goes into the more bizarre/interesting, like conspiracy theories, Sasquatch, UFOs, ghosts, and other topics that may be unbelievable, sometimes quite believable, but most of the time, fascinating. You can check it out on 640am and if it comes in, 610am, or on the Internet—and no, I’m not being paid by Coast to Coast to recommend them (cheap bastards!).