Column:
'W.' tones down Bush's presidency too much
Published Oct. 24, 2008
Needless to say, it's a little early for Oliver Stone to make "W."
The past eight years have clearly been quite the shit show. To try to cram the disappointment that was the first four years of Bush's presidency down to just more than two hours, with periodic excursions into his past, is Stone's own failure.
I have yet to see any other Oliver Stone films, but his reputation precedes him. For better or worse, "W." meets few of those expectations. The fact he has made a film so disrespectful of history is by far the most outlandish part of "W." His portrayal of one of the most hated men in the world is just too toned-down. The film's trailer might be at fault - that Talking Heads song seemed to go so well with the seemingly sensationalist film.
Instead, we get bland caricatures of the Bush all-stars. Richard Dreyfuss turns the enigmatic VP Dick Cheney into Emperor Palpatine, lurking in the shadows and suddenly spouting out suggestions of torture and empire-building. Thandie Newton's Condoleezza Rice is all coy smiles, bad hair and frightening forehead.
Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright) fares only slightly better as the conflicted military man who eventually gives in to Cheney's peer pressure. In a film loaded with egomania, Powell's presence offers relief from all the stupidity.
The man of the hour - Josh Brolin as Bush Jr. - pulls off an excellent performance, if only in comparison with the ad for Frank Caliendo's "Frank TV" that played before the film. But scene after scene of a swearing Bush, mid-sandwich no less, only forces Brolin into a cartoon role.
There's no denying Bush is one of the most complicated public figures in recent history. Stone's approach to his characterization is all the more strange for that reason.
Stone reduces Bush to an infantile figure who spends his entire life trying to prove his worth to Bush Sr. All the nicknames don't help - Bushy, Geo, Junior.
"W." begins as a Jack Daniels-soaked "how could this man grow up to become president" tale and ends with a Bush who has traded in his Texan boozing habits for born-again fanaticism. Which one is scarier remains open to debate.
Daddy issues cause plenty of problems, but to use them in a story like this one means taking the easy route for Stone. A retrospective of a president still in office is questionable enough, but to base the conflict on a grudge with his father is even worse. Stone treats his subject like a plaything. Bush the puppet becomes enraged, then becomes president and then chokes on a pretzel.
Despite the flashy trailers, "W." is no comedy, but somehow it ends up feeling like the darkest of comedies at times. What Bush and his cronies have done to the world may never be undone, and witnessing moments like the Bush administration deciding to invade Iraq re-enacted throughout the film only makes things feel worse than they are when they're all reduced to egomania and poor intel.
The film's tagline might be "Get Ready," but really, what's there to prepare for? "W." is just another Oliver Stone film that refuses to let history settle into place before touching the subject matter.
