The Post - Review
This review of The Post is spoiler-free!
The 1970s were a hotbed of government corruption across the globe, none more famous perhaps than that of our own American government. For years and years, the United States government lied to its own people about the Vietnam War. This was a period in which the press took to show those in power that they had the power to help balance the power in the free world. The Post is an excellent story that helps to pave the way for what is often considered the greatest uncovering of collusion in American history: Watergate. With director Steven Spielberg at the helm, and stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep as the top-billed characters, The Post has all the capabilities to be a stunner of a film. Let's get to printing this review!
Starting off at the top, let's talk about the story and direction of the film as we always do. The Post's story is rather straightforward, with The New York Times being threatened with action against them by the presidency, The Washington Post has to make the decision and analyze both choices on whether or not to publish the well known Pentagon Papers. For many, I know that this story wouldn't really connect as it's not a spectacle style movie. This is something I recognize isn't a major draw for those who aren't into movies for the craft and stories and more for a fun time at the theater. This movie is something that aims to look more at the reality of the world and I'm glad it does this. It does tend to cater to audiences at some points with the more complex material in the film, but once again it does just enough to make it interesting. I will say though, that it takes quite a good amount of time to get to the true meat of the film, so for some, it may be a rather slow build-up to what they actually came for.
Performances wise, I think that Tom Hanks takes the cake here. His portrayal of Ben Bradlee, one of the leaders of the operating team at the Post, is absolutely stunning. He carries the idea of the audience in his action and I'm glad to I got to see it. Many of the supporting characters also have an excellent part to play in the film, with the excellent work done by Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bagdikian. He has much more to work with than some others such as Carrie Coon as Meg Greenfield. As for the top-billed Meryl Streep (Kay Graham), I enjoyed her performance overall but it did feel rather one-note when in comparison with some of the others of the film. She's more of a symbol of the movie and helps to convey some popular themes than a character all on her own and that disappointed me. Almost everyone recognizable in the film though gets a moment in the spotlight, but Speilberg knows who his stars are and they get the majority of the screen-time.
As a fan of themes and background in a film, The Post really attempts to hammer home multiple different ones. The theme of female empowerment is a heavy secondary theme in the film, and when Kay is on the screen that's really what the majority of her character is about. Going against an army of men and proving she can make the right call. This directly ties into the other theme that is extremely relevant in society today with all of the ideas of fake news and the like: freedom of speech and of the press. The Post conveys a truth about a world that is strikingly similar to the world today with the showing of how truly despicable President Nixon was during his time as the leader of the free world. He was willing to use all the power he could to prevent the world from seeing what was behind the curtain and he was oh-so-close to doing just that. While these themes are extremely prudent to the movie, I do worry about the long-term standing of this film. While this film works very well for the current political climate, one can't help but wonder about the future.
Looking back on The Post, I truly enjoyed what I saw on screen. The problem for myself was that even though the film manages to truly convey a sense of freedom and strength of the people, there are times where it seems to almost worry more about making its main characters have more screen time than conveying the story in a more compelling manner. Sure there's nothing wrong with more of Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, but I can't help but wonder if more time was spent thinking of the morality of this situation from those working at The Post. There is a little sign of this show when they all stand up to the legal folks at the paper, but it's never truly explored. Regardless, The Post is an excellent film for the world today and a film that is important as well. If you're a fan of movies that strike a chord with society, I would highly recommend The Post.
8.25/10
