The Post Review
Blurb: A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.- Courtesy of IMDB
“The Post” is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson and Bob Odenkirk.
This movie centers around The Washington Post’s crusade to publish The Pentagon Papers, which was a series of documents detailing how the government had been lying to the American public about the reality of the Vietnam War. Let me preface this review by saying that I was not alive during the seventies. I did not live through this situation. So I went into this movie not knowing anything about the Pentagon Papers or much about the Vietnam War, for that matter. The most that I knew about the Nixon administration was a very limited knowledge about the Watergate Scandal.
This movie was famously made in three months. Steven Spielberg read the screenplay and then sent it to Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep and the three of them agreed that this movie needed to be released in 2017. So they got to work. As admirable as their work ethic is, the rushed production schedule shows. The writing for this movie could have had a few more rewrites. There are a couple of lines that feel incredibly stilted. I’m actually embarrassed to admit that I laughed at a couple moments in this incredibly dramatic movie. This movie is also incredibly on the nose. I’m not sure if that was something that was written into the script or if it was a Spielberg decision. Regardless there are moments, specifically with Tom Hanks’ character where it feels like the movie is screaming at me “THIS IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS BEING INFRINGED UPON!” These moments always seemed to take me out of the movie.
One great strength of this film is the cinematography. There are shots in this films that are gorgeous. I would recommend this movie just for the shots of newspapers being printed. Those shots are so nice. And there are so many. 10/10 would recommend. Spielberg's great strength is using visuals to continue the story. There are wide shots of trucks dropping off newspapers that when accompanied with John Williams’ score convey so much meaning and it’s a joy to watch.
The performances in this movie were very mixed. Tom Hanks gives a very good performance as Ben Bradlee, The editor in chief of the Post. I seem to have a problem wherein a lot of live action movies I have problems with separating the actor from the character. I did not have this issue with Tom Hanks’ performance. He hit all of the emotional buttons needed for his character and I really felt for him throughout this movie. His struggles became my struggles. Another performance that I thought was really strong was Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bagdikian, the reporter who was able to secure the papers for the Post. Whenever the film cut to him I was excited to see where is storyline went and I was desperate for him to succeed. This was a truly incredible performance. Meryl Streep’s performance, was mixed, however. As previously stated I did not live through the seventies and so most of what Meryl Streep’s, Katharine Graham was doing felt like it was derailing the narrative. Ben Bradlee would get a lead in the crusade to expose the President, and here’s Katharine Graham hosting another dinner party. It was infuriating. It made for an incredibly aggravating second act. So once Graham comes around and agrees that the Post should publish the paper, did Streep’s performance make sense to me and really shine.
Overall, I would recommend this movie as I thought it was incredibly well made and a fine outing from Spielberg, Streep, and Hanks. A majority of the performances were strong, the cinematography was incredible, unfortunately, the screenplay is weak, but it does not overshadow the rest of the movie.
