ironhorse_iv
When we were kids, we were taught that anybody that work, hard enough, can achieve upward mobility in life with his/her ability. We called this trusted belief, the American Dream. In the modern age, the whole idea of the American Dream is slowly become disillusioned, to the point, that some people, see it, nearly impossible to achieve due to issues like institutional racism, gratuitous lust, and most of all, the greed of corporatization capitalism. Anybody, wondering where, such modern pessimism, came from, would probably, look at the trouble 1970s for answers. Indeed, it was a time, where American pragmatism was at one of its lowest. Unemployment was very high, crime & violence was very rampage, and most of all, the old American values, were being soiled by dirty hands, within the government and in the job market. No wonder, why the American Dream becomes the American Nightmare for Samuel Bicke (Sean Penn), a down-on-his-luck, furniture salesman. Directed by Niels Muller & inspired by tragic, true events, the movie tells the story of an irrational man so disillusion with the American Dream, that he become a danger, not only to his friends, and family, but also to the President of the United States for who, he blames as the cause of his problems. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I kinda have to say, I hate the title of the film. The movie should had been call something else. Clearly, anybody who knows history, knows that Richard Nixon was never assassinated. Unless, it's about his career. Then, yes, I guess, that title could work. Still, the movie isn't really about President Richard Nixon. It's about, his fail assassin, becoming disillusion with the American Dream due to fact, that he cannot find success, by being an honest man. I really surprised that this movie was even made. Clearly, the studio had some questions about whether it would be a good idea to produce a film where the protagonist tries to fly a plane into a famous building just two years after 9/11, but many of the people who work with the film, persuaded them that it'd be a worse crime, not to tell this story. Despite, the movie, being very controversial, the movie was indeed well-made, both in writing and in visual storytelling. I just wish, the movie had a better framing device than the odd use of flashbacks. Still, Sean Penn was amazing as the trouble, well-meaning if slightly eccentric guy. You really could see the depth in his performance with powerful well-written scenes with both his boss, Jack Jones (Jack Thompson) & his brother, Julius (Michael Wincott). He didn't go over-the top, one bit and the supporting characters really help the film work. You see Sean Penn's character, transforms from a normal career ambitious family man into a lonely self-hating psychological killer. There was nothing cartoony about it. A great shade of grey, worth of story-telling. There is a few things, I can nitpick about the film about when it comes to historic accuracy such as the last name chance, and the fact that real Samuel Byck was quite a bit heavier than Sean Penn. When it comes to Sam's backstory being tweaked and altered, the real Sam, had four children while Sam only has two in the film. It also implied, that Sam's loan fiasco happen only a few weeks before the assassination attempt, while Byck's failure to secure a loan happened in 1972, two years beforehand. One of the biggest changes, is the fact, that the movie doesn't mention, Sam, going to a psychological ward in a last ditch, attempt to save his marriage, or the fact, that Sam went to Washington D.C, very often to protest against Richard Nixon, way before Watergate. Still, the overall storyline is much the same as the real-life events, and everything that happens at the airport in the last 15 minutes or so is entirely the same as what happened in reality. The movie ends with such a powerful anti-climax downer way that you would have to wonder, what was the point of the film? The movie clearly isn't trying hard to be an attention-grabber, but I have to say, the movie got green-lite, because the film metaphorically tells, how life is living in a post-9/11 world. While the movie is indeed set in the 1970s, a lot of viewers can see, a lot of mirror-like social tones coming off, from this movie, such as the endless wars, the deeply trouble economy, and corrupt government figures. It's both a sociological analysis of the 1970s and the 2000s. If you like this movie, check out The History Channel special, "The Plot to Kill Nixon." It's worth a watch. Overall: While, some people might not go, see this movie, due to its rough subject matter. I have to say, that the movie needs to be seem, due to its powerful message, about government, business, family and social and moral roles. It's a must-see. The film is essentially the new Taxi Driver for a new generation.
sddavis63
I'm not sure what it is about Sean Penn that inspires this in me, but there's a lot of me that really doesn't want to like him. I approach pretty much every movie he's in with a pre-conceived chip on my shoulder, and then the movie starts and Penn proceeds to knock the chip off my shoulder with yet another brilliant performance. "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" was no exception. Based on real events (and from what I've been able to dig up on the events the movie is for the most part a remarkably accurate portrayal), this movie may feature Penn's strongest performance. I thought he was great in "Milk" and "I Am Sam" and "Mystic River" but this performance can't be ranked far behind those, it it can be ranked behind them at all.Here, Penn plays Sam Bicke (the real person on whom the character is based spelled the last name Byck). Bicke is a guy who struggles with life. As the movie opens we find that his marriage has fallen apart and that he has trouble holding down a job (apparently having been fired by his own brother at the family's tire store.) But Bicke is also someone who can't take responsibility for his failures. He blames those around him, but never himself. Developing a dream to open a mobile tire-selling business, he applies for a government loan to get started, but gets turned down. As he spirals farther and farther out of control (and Penn depicted this gradual emotional and mental erosion brilliantly) he becomes convinced that now the US Government is out to get him, and in revenge he concocts a plan to hijack an airplane and force the pilots to fly into the White House to kill President Nixon. It's one assassination attempt that I wasn't familiar with until watching this movie.Bicke is a strange character - and not just because he's unbalanced. For a while (for most of the movie actually) you feel a degree of sympathy for him. His life has gone to hell, and while he blames everyone around him he doesn't actually hurt them, although he rather creepily stalks his ex-wife both at her home and her workplace. But the story manages to pull that sympathy away (probably starting with the scene in which he kills his dog, the only creature in his life who actually seemed to care about him) and by the end he becomes little more than a monster as he storms an airplane and embarks on a shooting rampage. The emotional impact of the movie (and the gut reaction against Bicke as his plan develops) undoubtedly is heightened by the eerie similarity of his plot with that of the 9/11 hijackers, although the movie was apparently conceived well before 9/11, so the connection is just in the gut of the viewer but wasn't in the minds of the movie-makers, at least at first.Penn dominates the movie. The rest of the cast is solid, and there are no disappointments that come up because of the cast. You wonder for a while how this is going to get to where the title implies it's going (also implied by repeated video clips of Nixon speaking which apparently convince Bicke that the President is his enemy) but the buildup is interesting and the movie (at 1:35) isn't really long enough to ever start to drag. Overall, it's a very well done movie about a little known historical event. (7/10)
rooee
Niels Mueller's sole feature film director credit is this character study about tragic loner Sam Bicke (Sean Penn), a furniture salesman disillusioned with the dishonesty of the world he reluctantly inhabits. Loosely based on a true story, Mueller presents a convincing polemic on the back of bold characterisation. Forget subtexts and pregnant silences - Mueller's film is all about the power of expression.What it's not about is the assassination of Richard Nixon. I feel the title is not a sensible one - like Sam's slug-like boss (Jack Thompson), it's selling a different product. Do not expect a Jack Ryan-esquire heroic espionage thriller. This is, after all, the grimy Land of the Free of 1974, fed on a diet of Dickie Nixon promises and apocalyptic TV visions from Vietnam. Think Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation or Scorsese's Taxi Driver for its mood. But while those films may have lacked emotional warmth, The Assassination of Richard Nixon takes our anti-hero's plight almost into the realm of sentimentality. His scenes with his wife, Marie (Naomi Watts, with whom he memorably shared the screen in the previous year's 21 Grams), are an astonishing portrayal of the agonisingly pitiful.What seems at once like an exhilarating anti-capitalist diatribe turns into something far more moving: the fable of a lonely man. ("You miss me, don't you?" and "You love me, don't you?" he asks his ex-wife's dog - two things he cannot ask his ex-wife.) But also, fascinatingly, in the final reel Bicke is revealed to be not only deeply alone but deeply unhinged. When his brother (Michael Wincott - an excellent cameo) confronts him about a theft, Sam is forced to confront himself. Sam breaks down, becoming incomprehensible, ranting about racism, displacing responsibility for his crime onto the formless enemy of the honest man. Finally, he says sorry. This scene complicates Sam; it makes him human, not simply an alien observer of the troubled human condition.Disturbing, moving, cynical, slyly witty, and - horribly predictably - devastating.
