The Company You Keep
2/4
Starring: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard
Rated R for Language
No matter how long it takes or how well you cover your tracks, eventually the truth comes out. Everyone pays the piper.
Sharon Solarz (Sarandon) has just been arrested for a bank robbery she took part in decades ago. It resulted in the death of a guard, and the guilt got to be too much for her. But before she could turn herself in, she is arrested by the FBI. A reporter for a struggling newspaper by the name of Ben Shepard (LaBeouf) smells a story beyond the surface details. He eventually realizes that a local lawyer named Jim Grant (Redford) is actually one of the robbers, forcing Grant to go on the run. Tailing after him are Shepard and a dogged FBI agent named Cornelius (Howard).
"The Company You Keep" has a lot going for it. A brilliant cast, a good premise and a gifted director behind the camera. So what went wrong? Perhaps it's the fact that the screenplay is riddled with holes and keeps too many of its cards hidden from the audience. Maybe it's the fact that so few of the performers are willing, or able, to do much with their characters. Or maybe its because it is a thriller, something that Robert Redford is clearly not comfortable handling.
Shepard frequently tells everyone he comes across that he's got some of what's going on figured out, but he's confused about...something else. I felt the exact same way. The film never gives enough information to allow the audience an entry into the story. It's all just a lot of smoke and mirrors. The line between revealing too much and too little is a thin one, and Redford misses the mark. Instead of being intrigued, I felt jerked around until the anticlimactic ending with a twist I could spot twenty minutes before it was revealed. Ouch.
So instead of a good political thriller, watching "The Company You Keep" becomes a game of "spot the star." At least on that level, the film delivers. The cast is to die for: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf (before he completely lost his mind and was still considered an up and coming star), the ever choosy Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliot, and Stephen Root. There's some really big talent here, but few are memorable. The writing is flat and almost no one is given enough time or material to work with. So instead of being an asset, such an overload of stars becomes a hindrance.
Robert Redford is most at home directing low-key emotional dramas. Suspense is not his forte. To be fair, "The Company You Keep" was never intended to work in the same way that, say, "The Peacemaker" does. This is an understated and cerebral thriller, which is fine. There's always a place for movies that place plot and character over special effects and violence. The problem is that it's not done well. The film is confusing rather than engaging, and lacks the pacing for any sort of suspense to take hold. The glaring plot holes that are necessary for the plot to function do not help matters.
About the best I can say about this movie is that it's better than Redford's previous journey behind the camera. Since that movie was the wretched historical drama "The Conspirator," such a statement is a backhanded compliment if there ever was one.
Starring: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard
Rated R for Language
No matter how long it takes or how well you cover your tracks, eventually the truth comes out. Everyone pays the piper.
Sharon Solarz (Sarandon) has just been arrested for a bank robbery she took part in decades ago. It resulted in the death of a guard, and the guilt got to be too much for her. But before she could turn herself in, she is arrested by the FBI. A reporter for a struggling newspaper by the name of Ben Shepard (LaBeouf) smells a story beyond the surface details. He eventually realizes that a local lawyer named Jim Grant (Redford) is actually one of the robbers, forcing Grant to go on the run. Tailing after him are Shepard and a dogged FBI agent named Cornelius (Howard).
"The Company You Keep" has a lot going for it. A brilliant cast, a good premise and a gifted director behind the camera. So what went wrong? Perhaps it's the fact that the screenplay is riddled with holes and keeps too many of its cards hidden from the audience. Maybe it's the fact that so few of the performers are willing, or able, to do much with their characters. Or maybe its because it is a thriller, something that Robert Redford is clearly not comfortable handling.
Shepard frequently tells everyone he comes across that he's got some of what's going on figured out, but he's confused about...something else. I felt the exact same way. The film never gives enough information to allow the audience an entry into the story. It's all just a lot of smoke and mirrors. The line between revealing too much and too little is a thin one, and Redford misses the mark. Instead of being intrigued, I felt jerked around until the anticlimactic ending with a twist I could spot twenty minutes before it was revealed. Ouch.
So instead of a good political thriller, watching "The Company You Keep" becomes a game of "spot the star." At least on that level, the film delivers. The cast is to die for: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf (before he completely lost his mind and was still considered an up and coming star), the ever choosy Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliot, and Stephen Root. There's some really big talent here, but few are memorable. The writing is flat and almost no one is given enough time or material to work with. So instead of being an asset, such an overload of stars becomes a hindrance.
Robert Redford is most at home directing low-key emotional dramas. Suspense is not his forte. To be fair, "The Company You Keep" was never intended to work in the same way that, say, "The Peacemaker" does. This is an understated and cerebral thriller, which is fine. There's always a place for movies that place plot and character over special effects and violence. The problem is that it's not done well. The film is confusing rather than engaging, and lacks the pacing for any sort of suspense to take hold. The glaring plot holes that are necessary for the plot to function do not help matters.
About the best I can say about this movie is that it's better than Redford's previous journey behind the camera. Since that movie was the wretched historical drama "The Conspirator," such a statement is a backhanded compliment if there ever was one.
Comments
Post a Comment