One of the best arguments that can be made to defend this movie is that Oliver Stone and Anthony Hopkins went at this movie with the intention to take on the material with a lot of care. Anthony Hopkins delivers a performance that truly deserved his Oscar nomination. His acting is amazing. There are so many scenes where he is able to connect with the viewer. I only wish I could say the same about the rest of the cast. Here's a movie that has an all star cast; Joan Allen, James Woods, Bob Hoskins, E.G. Marshall, Paul Sorvino, and Ed Harris. And among all of them, not one of them stand out! Was Stone really that unaware of the talent he had in this movie. Lets take Joan Allen for example. Here's a great actress and she was given such an awful, bland role! There were no memorable moments. The same thing is true with James Woods. I would go as far as to say that James Woods is one of the best actor we have alive today. But, what's the good of it?! Everyone in this movie is mildly or barely used. Another bad thing about this movie is it was filmmed so low key. And by that I mean, there are moments were the film carries no energy. It's just so dull! There were many scenes were I sat there bored. The only other good thing I can say about this movie is I like the way the film doesn't take sides. It doesn't try to lean towards the left by saying that Nixon was a bad President. That he didn't end the war soon enough. And, it doesn't try to lean towards the right. By stating that he was a great President who was misunderstood or wasn't giving a chance. Even though the ending does seem a bit sentimental. The movie doesn't try to be preachy. It lets us decide for our own how we want to look at what Nixon did while in office. It merely trys to state the facts. For people who are young and know little about Nixon the movie can be informative. You will learn about the him and what happened durning his Presidency. For those who were around when it actually happened, there's nothing here that's new for you to see. Overall I can't help feel that this movie is way too long. It a little bit over the 3 hour mark. But, it feels so much longer! It's low key, and has no energy. ** out of ****
Review of Nixon
