*Originally written January 24th, 2018*
Let's be honest, Steven Spielberg is not the filmmaker he used to be, his glory days of Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Schindler's List, Jaws and Saving Private Ryan are long behind him. He nearly managed to achieve that level again with the excellent Bridge of Spies, but most of his recent output have been duds like Lincoln, War Horse and The BFG.
The Post is sadly another dud and misfire from the once great director. Everything about this film is just a mess. A lot of this i felt was similar to Darkest Hour, another piece of dull Oscar Bait for 2018 awards. You have a potentially tense and engaging story wasted in such a by the numbers and bland drama.
The performances are fine for the most part, although a lot of the supporting cast (Made up entirely of actors from the best TV shows of the last few years) are completely wasted with thankless roles. Tom Hanks is completely fine and comfortable in the role, it's not entirely memorable and his character isn't very interesting, but he's fine. Meryl Streep however, I found to be terrible, almost borderline school play acting. It didn't help that the female characters were so underwritten, despite the prominence in the story and place in history.
A story like this could have been full of tension, instead it's just
painfully dull and a chore to get through. Spielberg does actually use some very interesting camera work throughout the film, which shows me there's still a bit of greatness in him, but he just seems to have faded in talent with his old age, much like Clint Eastwood.
There are moments towards the end where things could have got interesting or had some tension, but instead succumb to the worst of Spielberg's traits. Characters overact and do stupid stuff like drop everything on the floor while they make a phone call because they're so under pressure, it just felt ridiculous and drama for the sake of drama. I also wish we'd actually seen the courtrooms scenes at the end and seen the reporters defend themselves, instead it just... ends.
There's an important message of freedom speech for the press (Which I agree with), but sadly it's buried under a workman like dull drama that's desperate to hit those sweet spots for Oscar voters. Based on yesterday's nominations, it sadly worked. Spielberg has Ready Player One later this year and I really hope that captures the Spielberg magic and wonder that has been so desperately missing for as long as I can remember.
4/10 Dans
The Post is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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