Review: Good Kill

by. Joe Moss
★★

With the release of "American Sniper" this past December, it now seems that many filmmakers are going to be jumping onto the 'America at War' bandwagon. "Good Kill," written and directed by Andrew Niccol, feels just like this--a film whose sole purpose is to continue to tap into the heartstrings of the World by showing what the War on Terror around the world does to the people who are in the action...albeit, not on the field of battle rather form the new platform, Drone Warfare.

Major Egan in the kill zone.

Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke) is a disgruntled jet-jockey who has been transitioned into piloting the for the new drone warfare program. He is not happy about what was supposed to be a single tour of duty that has ballooned into three tours in Las Vegas. He longs for the feel of the jet-stream below him and the tactical satisfaction that would bring. He's not truly connecting to the fact that what he is doing with a joy-stick and a video monitor is 'real,' he misses the physicality of the turbulence and the presence of 'being in the moment.'  Then, when the intel community (CIA) decides to step in and direct mission removing all the normal safe-guards, all hell breaks loose--emotionally and temperamentally.

Molly Egan (January Jones) is the traditional stay-at-home military housewife who is juggling the troubles that come with a father who is ne'er present and a son who resents this from his father. She is there to help deal with the emotional fall-out from Major Egan's job, but we really do not get much else from this character. In fact, she is almost a non-entity for most of the film and comes of as basic plot filler, rather than a supporting cast member.

Molly and the Major, emotional disconnect?

Ethan Hawke portrays Egan with a lot of brooding, pouting, drunken malice. Which does provide a basis for the what the character is going through internally as retaliation for the events that he is forced to participate. Nevertheless, this was not Hawke's best performance considering the last few years we have had multiple Oscar-worthy occasions on which to better judge his abilities ["Boyhood", and "Before Midnight"].

I blame this lack of connection on both an anemic script and tragic lack of direction. Andrew Niccol probably needs to have a little more background information on the inner workings of the drone tactics before undertaking writing and directing a film centered around such. This movie is truly a one-man show centered around Egan and his inner turmoil, and I feel that that lack of supporting cast development, coupled with the direction took away from ever truly feeling emotionally connected to Major Egan. This could be due to the fact that I have already seen this movie done fantastically in Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper." Bradley Cooper's performance drew the audience into the film with his depth of emotion--not the stoic, near emotionless portrayal provided here by Ethan Hawke--and my personal belief is that Clint Eastwood's own military experience during the Korean War affords him a much better take on a realistic view on military film portrayals.