If you have seen the classic 1976 film, All the President's Men, you will understand this statement: this is sort of an origin story or prequel to that movie because it features Ben Bradlee at the Washington Post before controversy erupted. I understand why director Steven Spielberg wanted to make this because even though it is a significant chapter to the Washington Post's history and also the nation, the themes and context are parallel with today's news surprisingly, both having to do with authoritative controversy and also, a woman taking charge in a lead role. Now, a few years ago we had Spotlight, one of the best movies of 2015 and also the decade, that elevated into the top-tier of journalistic movies. This is a solid movie that has a good and relevant message to our time but I admired it more than I loved. It's a second-tier Spielberg movie.
During the Vietnam War in 1965, Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) is at the campsite in the Hau Giang Province to observe the battle for his work at the Embassy. The soldiers are shot by the enemies. On his flight home, Ellsberg speaks to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) about its progress and the latter says that it is worse. McNamara lies to the press and says things are getting better. Ellsberg sneaks out of the Pentagon with classified documents, revealing that four presidents (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson) were covering up things regarding the war.
Six years later, publisher Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) is set to take over The Washington Post publicly as President Nixon does not want the Post cover his daughter's wedding. Graham collaborates with managing editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) as she suggests to Bradlee to expand their coverage on other certain topics. Graham has taken umbrage by some of the men's comments, especially Arthur Parsons (Bradley Whitford), who expressed his doubts because she is a woman and that she has inherited the position because of her husband's suicide, which they consider an "accident".
Later, the New York Times publishes a story on obtaining the Pentagon Papers with news on the White House's cover-up stories. Graham and Abe Rosenthal (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Times editor, get word that Nixon wants to take the Times to court over their story. Much later, Bradlee comes to Graham's house to inform that they may face legal action if they publish the paper surrounding the Pentagon Papers.
Again, this is sort of a prequel to All the President's Men where it is mostly the Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep show and I'll get it over with, they both give terrific performances. Usually, because she is such a great actress, sometimes, I give her the benefit of the doubt or I am do not think it is a grand achievement. I do believe that Streep gives her best performance in a while, as she evokes a quietly powerful person making such risky decisions with a pause that could threaten her career and the company. It is suspenseful in that aspect. To be honest, I did not understand why the Academy nominated her in August: Osage County. Even though the movie was all right, her performance in Florence Foster Jenkins was pretty good because she is actually a great singer as she portrays the worst singer ever. Tom Hanks gives a confident and cranky performance that does not quite match Jason Robards but it is pretty close as he is also humorous in his role but also powerful.
One of the main problems was that besides Bill Odenkirk, who gives a great supporting performance as I wanted to follow his character a lot more, that many of the supporting actors do not have much to do: Bradley Whitford, Alison Brie, Michael Stuhlbarg, Carrie Coon, David Cross, etc. The difference between this movie and Spotlight is I felt like the latter, the characters were more developed and they were working as a team. I did not buy it here as it focuses so much on Hanks and Streep that they forget that there is a team in The Post office. It focuses so much in the material that the other players fade away. They do their thing and they are gone.
I have to praise Spielberg's cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, for making feel like it is the 1970s but also there are some scenes of subtle and silent power as Streep walks by a multitude of women, setting the standard for women being in leading roles in any industry but also can be faced with some challenges as well. It does not hammer you with the head with feminism as it slowly builds it up because Graham was finding her voice. And also, it almost becomes as a liberal message to today's news. So, yes, I will say that the second half saves the movie because there is a glimpse of Spielberg magic accompanied by John Williams' score. Even though the performances from Hanks and Streep are great, the direction and production is fantastic, I wanted more fire in the material. Nevertheless, The Post is a well-made movie.
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