The Movie
In director Grant Heslov's adaptation of Jon Ronson's book The Men Who Stare at Goats, a newspaper reporter (Ewan McGregor) unwittingly embarks upon the story of a lifetime when he seeks to unravel the mystery of America's alleged "psychic spies." In what we're led to believe is a true tale, a Vietnam veteran (recently Oscar'd Jeff Bridges) was tasked with creating an alternative fighting force, the top-secret New Age Army, a philosophical, oftentimes weird but nonetheless formidable team whose minds are the ultimate weapons. They eventually disbanded but when their most powerful member (George Clooney) shows up mysteriously in Kuwait years later, strange secrets are finally revealed.
Miraculously, the movie is able to maintain its peculiar vibe from beginning to end. Where it comes up short is plot, relying too much on its endearing bizarreness and thereby content to just amble along, before attempting to tie into the modern war on terrorism. And then some more wacky stuff happens, and then it's over. But it was fun while it lasted, mostly.
While you're at it, be sure to read David Kempler's review of The Men Who Stare at Goats.
The Picture
The 2.40:1 high-def presentation is strong overall, but perhaps a touch softer than the best I've seen lately. It's touched by some grain, with modest noise in darker scenes and minor compression artifacts visible in fine details. Many shots have been digitally enhanced with subtle special effects, well-matched and looking crisp. There's a mild distortion in the backgrounds and evident in the focus pulls, but nothing too distracting.
The Sound
Early scenes in particular are somewhat mundane and simplistic, but then a flashback to a Vietnam battlefield really wakes up the Dolby TrueHD soundtrack with a helicopter takeoff that really makes the most of the rears, even as dynamic gunshots exploit all 5.1 channels. The Iraq-set scenes are marked by an impressive, but brief, firefight with hot lead whizzing in 360-degree space, later a solid explosion and more surprisingly detailed flyovers. The musical score is generously mixed throughout.
The Extras
Two audio commentary tracks are provided, one offering the unique perspective of Grant Heslov, another by author Jon Ronson. The pair of featurettes includes "Goats Declassified: The Real Men of the First Earth Battalion" (12-and-a-half minutes), serving up the "facts" behind the story, and "Project 'Hollywood': A Classified Report from the Set" (seven-and-a-half minutes), a more standard assemblage of talent interviews. The so-called Character Bios are actually a promotional reel in four parts about the lead quartet. The five deleted, alternate and extended sequences (four minutes total) don't always appear vastly different from the final movie, but these like all the video extras look terrific, in high-bitrate MPEG-2.
Disc Two is a DVD-ROM containing a Windows Media Digital Copy of the film.
Final Thoughts
If indeed true, The Men Who Stare at Goats is a rather interesting chapter in U.S. military history, and "Goats Declassified" along with Ronson's commentary are a great way to learn more. If not, then watching this talented cast bring their earnestly goofy A-game to the proceedings is at least an amusing way to spend an evening.
Product Details
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