The Ides of March

The Ides of March premiered as the opening film of the 68th Venice International Film Festival, before receiving a wide release on October 7, 2011. It was written by George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon, based on the play Farragut North, by Beau Willimon, directed by George Clooney, and stars Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, and Evan Rachel Wood.



I like politics. I think it's an interesting topic, one that everyone should have at least, the slightest interest in. I love film. I think it's one of the most interesting things in the world, that everyone can and does enjoy. So whenever the two are combined, I'm very happy. Films about Presidents, monarchs, I absolutely enjoy. And it's the same with this film, I did enjoy it. But here's the thing about this film: it's very standard.

The film has a fantastic cast, as well as a very good director. Ryan Gosling, one of the best young actors nowadays (yes, he's 30, but oh well), George Clooney, just a damn good actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best supporting actors of all time, and Paul Giamatti, one of my favourite modern actors, make up the main cast. Ryan Gosling is Stephen Meyers, a junior campaign manager for Governor of Pennsylvania and Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Morris (George Clooney). Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the Governor's senior campaign manager, and Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) is the senior campaign manager for the rival, Senator Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell), of Arkansas. We see Morris, an idealistic Governor, attempting to become President so he can fix America, and put them on top of the world again. And what's more? He looks like he could do it. Meyers is a young campaign manager who is extremely idealistic, and believes that Morris will truly fix America. The one thing these two have in common? They refuse to play dirty. By the end of this film, both of them are playing dirty.

The main problem with this film is just how standard it is. It's easy to predict the next move, and before the mid-point of the film, I knew exactly how it would end. Hell, I even knew what shot it would end on. Watching the trailers, I believed this would be an extravagant political thriller. When instead, it was just a good political thriller. Now, this doesn't mean it's bad. It's good. If you weren't expecting a great film, you will be surprised. However, if you were expecting a great film, like me, you'll be disappointed.

The acting, without a doubt, is the best thing about this film. The 4 leads are spectacular, but I'd have to say the best were Gosling and Giamatti. Giamatti wasn't in the film a lot, but he drove a lot of the plot, and brought power to every scene he was in. Hoffman and Clooney were terrific, but felt outshined by the power of Gosling and Giamatti. Evan Rachel Wood was also quite good. I haven't seen a lot of her work, so it was nice to see her do a good film. Gives me a good impression of her.

Being adapted from a play, the writing features many monologues, all of which are brilliantly written. I don't know which of the 3 writers deserve credit for that, but I'm going to go with Willimon, because he wrote the original play. The monologues, particularly those from Giamatti and Hoffman, were my favourite parts of the film. Clooney's directing is also to be commended. I wouldn't say it's worthy of an Oscar, but still very good. He's a good director, and I do genuinely enjoy his films. I wish he'd do some more in the following years.

Overall, I can only recommend this film if you're looking for a standard, but good, political thriller. It's not bad, it's just predictable. Overall, I give this film a 7.5/10.