Good Kill

Good

source: Good Kill

this is an excellent film about humanity vs patriotism. i like what one of the reviewers summary: "welcome to American chair force". yes, this film is exactly telling us that 'the war on terror' has been totally changed when the drone went into service. the drones kill and the drone also save on both accounts. killing the terrorists thousands and thousands miles away with extreme prejudice without mercy and without second thought indeed is a job only for the strong-minded or the stone-cold. but once your conscience kicked in and allow the humanity invaded your mine, any normal military person would be affected greatly. this film has deeply moved me in a certain way, and let me know that pulling trigger to eliminate a target thousands miles away is as hard as flying a jet fighter bomber dropping bombs over it. the only minor flaw of this film that i consider it a flop is the same cop stopping the guy two times in a row; how coincidentally convenient. other than that, i think that this is a fantastic film. the wife, by the way, is actually a wonderful woman and a good wife, so when he decided to drive up to reno to rebuild his family was such a good ending(consider this is a small spoiler). this is a wonderful film.

The film is about a drone pilot played by Ethan Hawk who feels conflicted about killing people with drones , half a world away. It could have been an interesting film, allowing us a glimpse into a world we have heard about but have never seen. However, it devolves so blatantly into the Hollywood mantra of today "Women and kids are worthy, men don't matter" The subject matter regarding a person struggling with his ability to kill people at his fingertips is handled halfway decently, and we see Hawk and the other pilots worry about killing women and children several times. However, consistent with American culture today adult men are portrayed as expendable, all probably guilty of something. When they blow up a house or group, there is always supposedly good intelligence guiding the decision to kill them. Obviously serving as judge, jury and executioner for large groups is going to raise the possibility of error. Not only do they only seem to worry about the women and children, but they insert an awkward subplot in which a bad guy serially rapes a women, and then they kill him surgically . Of course, the female victim narrowly escapes injury or death, and as the smoke clears a small, innocent child runs into her arms, Ummmmmhummm.... Since the bad guy was not an identified target it is a vigilant kill. However, there is no consideration of their accuracy in determining his guilt, and if it is mistaken identity- oh well...... a pilot conflicted by the killings can sleep well that night anyway. It seems contrived and simplistic, but consistent with a disturbing trend that violence is justified as long as it's against men, because we probably did something to deserve it.

I thought this movie was thought-provoking. Good writing. Great cinematography. Hawke is perfect. And so is January Jones. Andrew Nichol's directing is flawless. Instinctively, you know what the good kill is when you encounter the rapist for the first time. Kravitz' daughter is beyond words, making the most of a smallish part. Looking forward to seeing her again in something else. To sum it up, a movie well-worth watching. Could be the first of many in our remote-control wars, in which drone pilots actually get higher military rewards than men in the combat zones. But drone strikes will continue happening, as Bruce Greenwood's character explains, because right now there doesn't seem to be any other way. The film makes the CIA the bad guy, while the image of the army remains intact. Hard dilemmas...

I have absolutely no idea how true to life Good Kill is , as i know nothing about the Drone programme in the US but if it is remotely ( no pun intended) like what actually happens then i'm totally gobsmacked . I found this disturbing. Do the American's really recruit people , some for their expertise on the X-Box , to blow up Afghanistan citizens on a probability factor that they may or may not be Taliban ? I Bloody hope not. Ethan Hawke is superb as the troubled Drone Pilot as is the gorgeous January Jones who plays his wife . I think this one is going to stay with me for some time. 8 out of 10

When a film is important enough it deserves all praise. This film is not for entertainment. It is a wake-up call. I remember when the first violent video-games appeared. it's at least 20 years ago. It's a whole generation now grown up that has been playing these games and developed considerable skills playing them. I have the audacity to claim that what is happening now is at least as old in the planning if not older still. So much evil for so long is hard to grasp. It takes your breath away but not in awe. Still, it makes you wonder. I know from personal experience that Muslim women are amongst the loveliest women on this earth and for some of their men this is also true but maybe not for a majority of them. But who am I to judge? I have not experienced drones that suddenly killed my whole family. I guess, such an experience would not make me a very loving person.

"Don't ask me if this is a just war. It's just war." Director Andrew Niccol has proved in the past that he's capable of directing smart and intelligent sci-fi films like Gattaca, but he can also direct duds like The Host. Good Kill is on the one hand a unique war film because it focuses on the army's use of drones for fighting and the effects it has on the soldiers, but on the other hand it feels very repetitive and heavy handed with the message. Ethan Hawke plays Tom Egan, a former Air Force pilot who has served on six tours, but is currently fighting from inside a bunker near Las Vegas controlling the drones like if he was playing a video game. He is fighting the war in a way he isn't accustomed to, and the effects of each long distance kill are taking a toll on him. As opposed to his tours, he can now return home each day to his beautiful wife Molly (January Jones) and two kids. But he can't manage to separate his comfortable life at home with his service in the bunker. He's desperate to get back on a real plane, but his superior, Jack Johns (Bruce Greenwood) needs him to continue fighting the war from the control room. Tom begins to question the ethics of what he's doing, and he's also having trouble communicating his feeling to his wife whom he feels more and more distanced to. He feels like a coward at times and it's a feeling that his new partner, Vera (Zoe Kravitz) seems to share with him. When the crew begin receiving direct orders from the CIA, his ethical questioning gains more weight and his life begins to unravel at home. The film opens with a very interesting premise and the first fifteen minutes are gripping. Ethan Hawke delivers a solid role in this character study that shows the effect that the war is taking on him, but after a while everything begins to feel extremely repetitive and the story begins to drag while continuing to hammer the nail in the same place. He questions each order he receives, he returns home to his nagging wife, he drowns himself in alcohol, and the next day the same thing happens. The film lacks subtlety and it focuses on the effects that fighting a war from home has on some of these soldiers in a rather conventional way. Ethan Hawke gives a much more subtle and restrained performance than what we are used to seeing him in. He delivers a very solid performance and we see the stress that he's going through simply by looking at the wrinkles in his forehead (which explains the use of extreme close ups on Hawke's face). He makes this a much better movie than what it really is, but it wasn't enough for me to recommend it. Niccol is basically criticizing the new video game style of war policy by portraying the ethical dilemma the soldiers go through. Good Kill lacks subtlety but we do see a side of the war we hadn't seen before. The secondary cast doesn't get much to do here since the film basically focuses on Hawke's character. January Jones probably suffers the most due to the stereotypical character she has to play. We've seen this role of the nagging wife who doesn't understand what her husband's going through played out many times before. The melodrama at home is what ultimately hurts this film and drags it down. Zoe Kravitz and Bruce Greenwood have some interesting scenes, but the repetitive nature of the story becomes unbearable at times. Good Kill tries to say a lot, but it ultimately doesn't say much. Many have compared it to Eastwood's American Sniper, but other than the long distance killings there's not any more similarities. Niccol focuses more on the ethical dilemma of this new approach to war, but he does it by beating the audience over the head with the same idea and through the use of heavy dialogue. It's as if he's forcing the audience to interpret things his way. Niccol's greatest weakness in Good Kill is his own script overloaded with stereotypical characters which wasted an interesting premise. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

I found this movie to be very upsetting personally, having spent 20 years in the U.S. Military. This movie portrays military personnel and the military family in general in an extremely negative way. The movie is also written in a propaganda format that questions U.S. policies on the war on terror. It shows military personnel at high levels questioning their orders and actions on a daily basis and tensions within their ranks/unit because of that. The main character, played by Ethan Hawke, clearly needs help in many ways (not being specific purposely). To think that a senior officer wouldn't notice his behaviors and would continue to allow the character (a senior officer himself) to continue to fly drones and kill targets is ludicrous.

This film focuses on Hawke's grounded fighter pilot adapting to his new role as a remote drone operator. Along with a sexy new sidekick, The duo struggle to come to terms with the job at hand. Apart from a few lame sub plots that about sums up this effort. Too much moralizing and war clichés ("I don't know if this is a just war" etc, you get the picture)and too little close up action make this a real bore of a movie. One saving grace though is January Jones. Playing Hawkes long suffering wife she oozes sex appeal throughout. On a final note, any feminist watching this might think that the aerial shots were over a Frat house. The film makers should probably clarify this isn't the case. Perhaps a few trigger warnings too?