Ever since I saw the trailer for this movie, I was really
interested in seeing it. It’s starring Tina Fey. Its about war correspondents.
It’s about war correspondents in Afghanistan. The title is incredibly military
oriented. The cast from Fey to Martin Freeman, from Margot Robbie to Billy Bob
Thornton, just looked really good. This movie just looked good.
The problem is this movie has the feeling of a lot of movies
that come out throughout the year. There’s nothing incredibly sexy about it.
It’s not a comic book movie, it’s not a big budget film. It’s not a rip roaring
comedy. It’s just a film. A dramedy. And as much as I love those, I just don’t
go out of my way to see those kinds of movies. Dramedies, straight up dramas,
etc. It’s what happened with Straight Outta Compton. I know I still need to see
that movie but I had all the intentions to go and see it but there wasn’t
anything that really drew me to it.
However, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot to me seemed like a really
interesting film that I was incredibly interested in checking out. So I did.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot follows the story of Kim Baker (played
by Tina Fey). She is a low level reporter at a television news station and she
is dissatisfied with her job. She is given the opportunity to become a war
correspondent on a short assignment to Afghanistan. This takes place in 2003,
at the beginning of the War in Iraq and the focus diverts from Afghanistan to
Iraq. They need to have reporters on the ground to keep the support for the War
in Afghanistan up.
So Baker packs up and goes to Afghanistan. There she meets a
host of characters involved in the international war correspondent world. She
meets a famous war reporter in Tanya (played by Margot Robbie), her Afghan
“fixer” Fahim Ahmadzai (played by Christopher Abbott), a cocky Scottish
reporter Iain (played by Martin Freeman), and a Marine General (played by Billy
Bob Thornton).
Baker is embedded with Marine platoons during fights with
the Taliban, she has interviews with high ranking Afghan officials, (including
one played by Alfred Molina), all the while having quite the experience in
Kabul.
This story is based off a true memoir of Kim Barker, an
international reporter. I don’t really know how much of it is true and how much
of it isn’t. My philosophy when it comes to “True Stories” is that I always
take them with a grain of salt. I’m sure there is a thread of truth throughout
the story, but the more important thing to think about is, is this movie
portraying a good story? Is it compelling enough and is it keeping me
interested? If the answer to that question is yes, it really shouldn’t matter
the validity of the story. I mean unless they are saying things that are just
outlandish and slanderous, I don’t really care if a story is true or not
because most of the time when it says Based on a True Story, there are good
chances that there are a lot of liberties taken.
But what did I think of the movie. I really liked it. I
think we all know Tina Fey as a comedic actor, especially from her work on SNL
and television like 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. However, I can’t
really think of a lot of dramatic roles that she has taken on in the past. Sure
there have been dramatic moments in a lot of the comedies she has done, but I
think this is the first time that I’ve really seen her do something that is not
entirely comedic in nature. While there are a lot of funny moments in Whiskey
Tango Foxtrot, its about war correspondents in Afghanistan. There’s a lot of
serious moments to it.
Now I don’t think dramatic acting is really Fey’s strong
suit. I don’t think it was an Oscar caliber performance, but it was still
really good and great to see out of an actress that I think we’ve all known to
be pretty straight forward as a comedic actress. She did a good job.
One thing I guess I could say that works against Fey in this performance is that she is so well known as a comedic actress. She's freaking Tina Fey. While I liked her performance and I thought it brought out a really great dramatic side of Tina Fey, I could see how this could be seen as Fey just playing herself. Especially with the added comedy, it doesn't necessarily feel like she's playing a different character, she's just playing Tina Fey going out to Afghanistan. A more serious Tina Fey then we are used to, but at the time time, its not a very different character than we've seen from her before and I just hope this opens up some doors for her to become an actor with a more diverse variety of performances.
Other performances worth mentioning are Martin Freeman as Iain MacKelpie. As per usual, Martin Freeman is just down right charming in everything he does and I really enjoyed his character, especially as his relationship with Fey's character evolves in the story. But what's more is that, sorry if this is a spoiler, even though they eventually begin a romantic relationship, he is not the center of her story when that happens. She still has her story that she needs to go through and he is a supporting character. There's a hint at the end that he remains apart of the story, but again, this is not a love story, at least not first and foremost. First and foremost, this is a story about a woman becoming a war correspondent in Afghanistan.
The other great thing about this movie is the story. I was
really invested in this woman’s story and the experiences she goes through. I
was also interested in the characters she meets along the way. They had their
own personality and they were all interesting and essential to the story.
I also thought the mixture of comedy and drama was done very
well. As much as you could have played this movie off as a full on drama, the
fact of the matter is, some of the situations these reporters are in are so
serious they’re almost funny. It’s the kind of stuff that is hard to make up,
which makes me think that the funniest moments of the movie were actually the
most true. Don’t hold me to that because again, I don’t know what was true and
what wasn’t, but I thought the mixture of comedy and drama was very good
throughout.
The one thing I have to say against the story was some of
the conflict created. There’s a certain point in the movie where there’s a lot
of tension between characters and it really makes this world of war
correspondence really cutthroat. Again, I don’t know the validity of that,
maybe it is that cutthroat. But a part of me thought that a lot of the conflict
near the end was to give a little bit of drama to the last act of the movie and
felt a little bit forced overall. It wasn’t horrible, I just thought it was a
little bit out of character at some points and could have been left out.
It doesn’t really take away from the fact that I really
enjoyed this movie.
The movie also touched on a lot of issues regarding the war
in Afghanistan and I think its topics that are incredibly relevant given our
current circumstances in that country. Afghanistan was really a forgotten war
in the shadow of the war in Iraq. Furthermore, the movie really puts a human
face on the people of Afghanistan and focuses on the culture and people, rather
than the faceless terrorists that I’ve seen in recent movies about the wars in
Iraq and Afganistan like 13 Hours, (I know Libya not Afghanistan or Iraq) American Sniper, and the Hurt Locker. I’m
not saying those movies are bad or offensive, but it is good to see Afghanistan
as a place where actual humans live.
On a more personal note, the movie really is a supportive of
the military and if you’re in the military like I am, you’ll get a lot of the
jokes presented in the film. I was in the theater with only about 8 other
people and there were some jokes that only I was getting and nobody else was
laughing at. But don’t let that turn you away from this movie. It is a great
look into both the military and war correspondence in Afghanistan and if you’re
interested in that, it’s definitely a movie worth checking out.
As you can tell, I have a lot of good things to say about
this movie. While I don’t think it’s a movie that is going to be in contention
for an Oscar next year, I do think it’s a hidden gem out there and it’s a very
good movie.
But have you seen Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? What did you think
of it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter
@cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the
future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news
and reviews coming out of this blog.
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