Reserve Result.

On October 17th, 2008 Lionsgate released W. to a Bush-fatigued populace, but something tells me people will come to see it. It surprisingly revives what was so charismatic in the president in the first place, while reminding us of the terrible consequences of his decisions. He’s the comic relief at the epicenter of America’s descent into the war on terror, as bizarre as that sounds.

Lionsgate

What I noticed the most in Stone’s latest was the acting. There were performances where I forgot I was watching acting (which is the highest compliment of all) as was the case with Josh Brolin’s W and Jeffrey Wright’s Colin Powell, performances where I noticed and was impressed with the acting as was the case with Richard Dreyfuss’s Dick Cheney, and performances that made me scratch my head and wonder if the impersonated really acted that over-the-top (Thandie Newton’s Condoleezza Rice).

There were some powerful scenes, like Colin Powell making an impassioned case for diplomacy in a cabinet meeting, only to be overshadowed by Cheney’s cold-as-steel case for war. Powell really came out looking good in this picture, as we see that many in the White House were scratching their heads just like the rest of us were about the Iraq War. In fact, Powell may get headlines soon by endorsing Obama.

Condoleezza, however, did not come out looking so great. She seemed like just as big a warmonger as Cheney or Rumsfeld. While fascinating, the conversations inside the White House have to be taken with a grain of salt, seeing as how most of what went on in there from 2001 to 2003 is under wraps. However, Slate has an article about how surprisingly accurate the movie is. In fact, some true moments were excluded from the movie that would’ve made it even more difficult to believe. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Jason Stürmer is a contributor for (RR).