Lions for Lambs (2007)

Directed by Robert Redford. Starring Robert Redford, Andrew Garfield, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Derek Luke, Michael Peña, Peter Berg, Kevin Dunn. [R]

A once-impassioned college student (Garfield) meets with his idealistic professor (Redford) to discuss the young man’s recent descent into apathy. A GOP Senator (Cruise) gives a liberal journalist (Streep) the “scoop” on a new strategy being adopted for the War on Terror. Two American soldiers (Luke, Peña) serving in Afghanistan get trapped in a hopeless gunfight with Taliban insurgents. These three storylines dutifully dance with one another over the course of this impractical yet well-intentioned tract, but it’s all too clear where it’s going both thematically and anecdotally within about fifteen minutes, and Matthew Carnahan’s screenplay keeps opening up lectures framed as debates where seemingly every argument made (regardless of position) could be easily countered, or even discredited, by all but the most uninformed members of the audience. Cast promises dramatic fireworks, but no one’s challenged, so it feels like they’re just going through the motions for a flawed but honorable purpose. Awfully self-satisfied for a movie that comes clean about having no answers. Redford and Carnahan are among the producers.

40/100