Lions for Lambs: Movie Review (2007)

Directed by Robert Redford, written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, 90 minutes, rated R.

(Originally published 2007)

The new Robert Redford movie, "Lions for Lambs," is nothing if not nostalgic and well-intentioned, and that's part of its problem.

It's a thinking person's war movie that's frustrated by a lot of things--our national complacency on troubling domestic and foreign issues, the dark alleys into which our war efforts have taken us, the corruption of good journalism due to corporate influence, the ridiculous importance the media places on celebrity culture over real news--and it's not going to take it anymore, certainly not lying down.

In fact, it's going to sit down in a comfortable leather chair and have a good discussion about it. Lots of good, heated discussions. That'll show 'em!

Actually, it might have, particularly if the movie had wrapped its compelling arguments and observations about the state of the world and its problems around a movie that was equally as compelling.

Redford directs from Matthew Michael Carnahan's script, and what he mines is a chatty film (sometimes in a good way) that cuts between three connected storylines.

The first involves Meryl Streep's Janine Roth, a cable television news reporter with 40 years' experience ("Do you have to say the number out loud?") who has been invited into the office of Republican Sen. Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) to discuss a new military operative in Afghanistan, which he designed. What Irving offers Roth is an exclusive on the story, with full access to him as details emerge. Should she take the bait--sorry, should she write the story, which is laced with moral and ethical dilemmas--what she might be giving him in return is a greased pole into the White House.

Meanwhile, in a dull subplot, Redford himself plays the concerned Prof. Malley, who is trying to reach out to a bright student (Andrew Garfield) who has the potential to change the world if only he would tap into that potential. But since the student is like so many of today's youth in that he has been struck with apathy, he doesn't see the point, so Malley underscores it through a debate they share, and also through the example set by two of his former students.

Those students--Ernest (Michael Pena) and Arian (Derek Luke)--consume the movie's third subplot, which find them sandbagged in the mountains of Afghanistan thanks to Irving's new operative, which leaves each in a grave situation, to say the least.

Working hard to bring all of these elements together, Redford grinds away. Carnaham's labored script hampers him, but he does manage to generate interest in the scenes between Streep and Cruise, which are the movie at its most interesting--and not necessarily because of anything they're saying. Since the script has a refrigerated, academic air that's been strangled by rhetoric, it puts us on the outside of the movie, where we watch the real show unfolding here--who is upstaging who? Streep or Cruise?

Since that's the only surprise the movie offers, I'm leaving it for you.

Grade: C