I'm a big fan of a legal drama, and when you raise the stakes and make it all about a governmental cover-up, then you've really piqued my interest. I expected to like The Report a lot, and it did deliver some of the thrills that I enjoy from this type of drama. It's also extra impactful because it is all based on the real history of our nation. The other thing I appreciated about The Report is that it felt fairly apolitical. Sure, there are politicians who were involved in the planning and coverup of these detention centers, but there were definite mistakes made on both sides of the aisle when it comes to the handling of this information and the movie didn't shy away from that point. I also thought Adam Driver did a good job of playing a character who slowly escalates from dispassionate to fanatical as he spends more time working on this project. Perhaps my only complaint in the actors is that many of the CIA agents were played a bit over-the-top as conniving bad guys.
The unfortunate thing is that I don't think they did the best job of making The Report cinematic, and it lacked something in the story-telling department. Constantly recounting the atrocities done by members of the CIA, while showing many of them re-enacted, works to make a point and to shock the audience. However, at a certain point we get what they are trying to say, and yet they keep saying it for another hour. It begins to feel like the film-makers are reveling in the display of torture as much as those who performed the tortures. I can't count the number of times they repeat things in this film, and it wasn't advancing the story in any way. Meanwhile, there are more compelling parts of the movie that stall out with no explanation of any kind (like the main character's meeting with a lawyer.) I certainly think The Report contains important information and it is a story that needed to be told, I only wish it was told by someone who was more skilled than a guy who wrote a few mediocre Soderbergh movies.
The unfortunate thing is that I don't think they did the best job of making The Report cinematic, and it lacked something in the story-telling department. Constantly recounting the atrocities done by members of the CIA, while showing many of them re-enacted, works to make a point and to shock the audience. However, at a certain point we get what they are trying to say, and yet they keep saying it for another hour. It begins to feel like the film-makers are reveling in the display of torture as much as those who performed the tortures. I can't count the number of times they repeat things in this film, and it wasn't advancing the story in any way. Meanwhile, there are more compelling parts of the movie that stall out with no explanation of any kind (like the main character's meeting with a lawyer.) I certainly think The Report contains important information and it is a story that needed to be told, I only wish it was told by someone who was more skilled than a guy who wrote a few mediocre Soderbergh movies.