Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writers (WGA):

Aaron Sorkin (screenplay)
George Crile (book)

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Based on a true story. You think we could make all this up?

Plot:

A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.

Plot Keywords:

CIA Agent | Deception | Cigarette Smoking | Meeting | Helicopter Crash

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 11 nominations

Cast

Tom Hanks	...	Charlie Wilson
Amy Adams	...	Bonnie Bach
Julia Roberts	...	Joanne Herring
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Gust Avrakotos
Terry Bozeman	...	CIA Award Presenter
Brian Markinson	...	Paul Brown
Jud Tylor	...	Crystal Lee
Hilary Angelo	...	Kelly
Cyia Batten	...	Stacey
Kirby Mitchell	...	Stoned Guy
Ed Regine	...	Limo Driver
Daniel Eric Gold	...	Donnelly
Emily Blunt	...	Jane Liddle
Peter Gerety	...	Larry Liddle
Wynn Everett	...	Charlie's Angels - Receptionist

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Dari | Arabic | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:15A | South Korea:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Germany:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-11 | USA:R (certificate #44037) | Argentina:13 | Sweden:7 | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:15 | Malaysia:18PL | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Downey Studios - 12214 Lakewood Boulevard, Downey, California, USA

Company:

Good Time Charlie Productions

Trivia:

A special effects assistant received critical injuries due to a handheld mock-up of a stinger missile exploding as it was being prepared to be used in a scene aboard a helicopter.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first scene where Gust appears, he is fighting with his boss Henry Cravely about who owes whom an apology. The window that Gust had previously broken has just been replaced. As the fight continues and he's ordered out of the office, Gust breaks the window again, leaving shards of glass still in the frame. In subsequent shots, most of the shards have been cleared away even though this is just seconds after he smashed the window.

Quotes:

[first lines]
CIA Award Presenter: The defeat and break up of the Soviet empire, culminating in the crumbing of the Berlin wall, is one of the great events of world history. There were many heros in this battle, but to Charlie Wilson must go this special recognition. Just thirteen years ago the Soviet army appeared to be invincible...

Movie Connections:

References "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" (1962)

Soundtrack:

LET'S DANCE

"Well See....." said the Zen Master

Well we definitely did see and I and many other people were actually expecting worse. It did have some good parts too it that I was not expecting it still did fail in other areas though.

First off the acting was above average. I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman in this movie and I liked Tom Hanks. Hoffman was the glue to this movie. If it were not for him this movie would have crumbled and hit rock bottom. His performance was by no means stunning but absolutely necessary. He gave a good witty, cynical performance in what most other actors could have easily made his character into a cliché. Tom Hanks really gave a nice loose performance and did not disappoint but he certainly did not impress. What I could not stand was that Julia Roberts was involved in this movie. She was as big of a miscast as I have ever seen. For one she is a bad actress, at least to me, she was to young for her character and was to phony even for the character she was playing.

The directing was average to me. I'm not really a big fan of the recent Mike Nichols movies and I'm not exactly impressed by this one either. It was made with such a Hollywoodish, cartoonish touch hat I could not stand. The worst part about it was that he tried make it be a really meaningful movie at the end. I love meaningful movies but not when a movie tries to rush a scene or two at the end and show something that tries to justify the rest of the garbage spread throughout the whole movie. That is something that Mike Nichols has seemed to have done a lot in his recent track record.

The one impressive part of this movie was the writing. The dialog was put together very well and was able to let the story play out. The writing was what was able to really able to take this movie to an above average level. In so many scenes I found myself laughing in part by the writing.

Well that is some of what we saw at least. A lot of the scenery was good in the movie if you get what I mean but not a lot other than that. I did like that this movie did not glorify everything America had done. It is obvious that during this whole war in Afghanistan the U.S. gave weapons to the people who are now against us. This movie kind of show we are too blame for that. It shows that what may seem good in the short term may turn into something horribly wrong in the future. This movie did have a good original message but it just did not deliver it right. Overall though it was entertaining.