The Post Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of the New York Times publishing classified documents that expose America’s involvement in Vietnam that goes back decades. While only scratching the surface, the Times is met with an injunction, leaving the Washington Post to uncover the full report of the Pentagon Papers, but publishing them could put the paper, and its owner (Meryl Streep), at great risk.
There’s a lot of irritating issues I have with The Post, but I’m going to bookmark those for now. At the end of the day, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks deliver a good movie. Shocker. Rounding out the cast you got Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, David Cross, Jesse Plemons and many other talented actors. As you would expect, they are all superb. I can sum up this movie in three parts: The first twenty minutes were kind of slow. The middle is excellent. The last twenty minutes get uncomfortably preachy. We’ll get there.
First of all, the movie opens in Vietnam with a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. Seriously, Spielberg? That’s more cliché than parodying a slow motion Matrix fight. Let’s move on.
The first act is definitely uneven, but there’s plenty to like. Tom Hanks plays Ben Bradlee, the traditional, grizzled old newspaper editor. All the scenes that involve him pushing his go-getter reporters were excellent. One of the writers on this film is Josh Singer, who won an Academy Award for Spotlight. You definitely feel that passion and dialogue on this film, albeit a little more dry.
Bob Odenkirk is one of the stand outs here, playing the Mark Ruffalo Spotlight role. He gets so anxious whenever he has a big lead, he can’t even properly put coins in the pay phone to follow up on it. It’s those little quirks that endear you to the characters.
The problem with the first act is Meryl Streep’s subplot. Streep plays Kay Graham, who’s taken over her late husband’s company that owns the Washington Post. She’s going to take the company public, but some of the investors are weary of her leadership. This story is vastly underwritten and uninteresting compared to the battle between the Times and the Post, so it suffers. This story is a necessary evil though, as it sets up the true tension that becomes the central question of the entire movie.
The actual reporting and uncovering of the Pentagon Papers is wrapped up in the first half. This is where the movie gets good though. While the Post has the news story to end all news stories, exposing the truth about Vietnam and publishing these documents could have major ramifications for everyone involved. The paper could go under. Careers are at stake. The entire newspaper industry could implode at the hands of the Supreme Court. Kay Graham’s legacy, and everything her family built, could go up in flames.
Spielberg is a master at creating high stakes, making every conversation so important. You got Bradlee, who’s insistent on publishing. Graham’s business partners are nervous as hell. There are lawyers yelling everywhere. You got the former Defense Secretary (Bruce Greenwood) telling Graham to hold off. It’s all great conflict.
It all goes back to Graham though. The real drama is watching this one character have to make this one decision that will affect hundreds of people. While Meryl Streep is good throughout the movie, it feels like she was hired for one scene. Right before she makes the official call to publish, you can see the struggle on her face, almost like she’s gagging. That was an Oscar moment.
While all this is going on, Bradlee and his reporters are scrambling to sift through 4,000 pages with only hours till deadline. This is where Hanks is equally compelling. Bradlee used to go hobnobbing with all these past Presidents who were involved in the Vietnam cover-up, and Hanks delivers this riveting monologue about how you can’t be friends with these people if you want to be a true news man. That was his Oscar moment.
Having heaped all this praise on the film, it’s time to take the gloves off. Once the decision is made to publish the papers (not a spoiler, it’s history), the movie treats journalists like they are gods. Spielberg takes your head, slams it over a newspaper and forces you to lick the print. Everything from the way the papers get printed, to the music, to the way the delivery trucks leave the damn building beats you over the head. There’s even a shot where Hanks and Streep stand over the camera and literally look like superheroes. I think I saw wind blowing their hair back.
I get it. The message is journalism is still important. We need them. I don’t disagree with that, but would it kill Spielberg to tone it down a tad? At one point, Meryl Streep looks out at the audience and delivers her Golden Globes speech from last year about the press. It’s just too much, I’m sorry. It also goes way too Spielberg schmaltzy. There’s a moment where all the newspaper editors band together, and it plays like a Lifetime movie. This might as well have been Justice League, for crying out loud.
You see Richard Nixon talking on the phone, but they film it from outside where it’s dark. You can only see the evil silhouette of his back, like he’s Lex Luthor. Even the way they tease Watergate is completely over the top. For a master like Spielberg, that scene felt like it was a bad post credit scene in a superhero movie.
Again, I want to reiterate – this is a good movie. That last twenty minutes though is real tough to overlook. The best parts are when it’s focused on the real issues and pure character moments.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with the message, but subtlety goes a long way. That’s all I’m saying.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Good)
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