Frost/Nixon
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Movie Reviews of Frost/Nixon
Movie Review: Frank Langella at his Best, and Also a Great Story
Summary: 5 Stars
The very first impression I got when the film started was that Frank Langella did not look nor sound like Richard Nixon. But by the end of the film, I was totally convinced in his portrayal, and thus, a great character study of how a President's decisions affect that individual. Also, this is a great study of how public figures use each other.
The beginning has David Frost, still popular, but not being taken seriously, trying to get back to the world stage of televion, and Richard Nixon, trying to rehabilitate himself in the public eye. Frost and his team want to "get" Nixon, and Nixon's team want to portray Nixon as being worthy of sainthood, well, at least the Nobel Peace Prize.
The movie focuses on two things: the preperations the teams were doing for their man, and the condensed and sometimes modified from original questions and answers from the two. Nixon keeps getting the better of Frost, but Frost delivers a knock-out blow in the last round. Frost wins, but when the two men say their good-byes, each has earned the respect of the other.
It's not a 100% truthful. But, how many true-life movies are 100% true? The special features of the dvd are great because a couple of the extras point out that this is "fictionalised" truth. In addition to the real Frost/Nixon comparison, there is a "making of" featurette, which is interesting, and a nice piece on the Nixon library.
As far as the acting, Frank Langella does an extremely convincing job of presenting a man, whether true or not, haunted by his legacy, yet angered by the fact that his accomplishments on China and the Soviet Union are ignored. One that starts out belittling his adversary, but in the end, respecting him as a worthy opponent.
Frank Langella's performance is so compelling, I think it rejected a viewpoint the film wanted to present. In the special features, it's noted that Howard wanted to examine the issue of the abuse of power and I think he wanted to show that President's abuse power on purpose. However, for me, what came out is how troubled Nixon was with all the grey areas a President's decision falls under. And if he does abuse his power, he either convinces himself that it isn't so, or does it thinking that in the end,it is for the greater good.
Regardless of the filmmaker's intent, Langella's character study, showing the motivations behind public figures to use each other to rise in the public's eye, and the calculations behind a "face to face" makes this into a must see movie for me.
Movie Review: Entertaining Piece of History
Summary: 5 Stars
Frost/Nixon is a film about one snippet of Nixon's life after he stepped down from the presidency. In that small piece of time we are entertained by Frank Langella's interpetation of Nixon. He captures Nixon's complexities in adroit and deeply personal way.
The movie is simple quality and succeeds by not trying to cover everything in Nixon's life, but shows a Nixon, wanting to change perceptions of his Presidency, adapting to retirement as he grieves his loss of powerful and social status.
Michael Sheen plays David Frost, a smooth and dapper playboy interviewer who interviews Nixon in 1977. Frank Langella's Nixon at first does not seem like Nixon, but as the movie goes on, you feel he actually is Nixon. He catches nuances and delivers on the awkward social presence, the ego and self-centeredness, as well as a his pride and arrogance. The acting is superb, especially in the last half of the movie when the interview debate is one-on-one between Frost and Nixon.
Nixon agreed to have Frost interview him to set the story straight and let the public know all the good he did. He felt he could easily use Frost, who proposed this idea, as he was just a entertaining talk show host - not a heavy-weight interviewer. Frost was all this, but he was enchanted and determined to interview Nixon from the moment he resigned office. He wanted to hear Nixon admit his guilt and he wanted to be the man to do it. Frost was not doing well in the 1970's - his career was at a low-point, doing a talk show in Australia, showing magicians escaping from different types of traps. No network or large company wanted to back him on this project, so Frost ended up paying a good part of Nixon's $600,0000 fee. Nixon kept tabs on how desperate Frost was, where he was getting his money and constantly sizing up the situation.
Frost's advisers (Oliver Platt and Sam Rockwell), are upset when Frost cannot control the first interviews (there are 4 in all - taped over a period of days - each interview on one subject). Nixon takes a topic and runs away with his spin on the issues, knowing full well he is an expert on evading questions. He plays mind games with Frost before the interviews and is cunning on how he handles the beginning interviews. Frost is helpless as Nixon dominates the conversation.
Ron Howard directed this movie and with this excellent group of actors developed a Shakespearean masterpiece. The material is strong and the movie is fast and entertaining.
Movie Review: Langella Crawls Under Nixon's Skin
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, see this film, but only when you're in the frame of mind to pay attention to dialog and nuances. It's talky. But in the talk is all the drama. Secondly, it's an acting tour de force. How did Langella do it?
I initially resisted seeing this film. After all, I was one of those 45 million Americans who sat riveted for the original Frost/Nixon interviews. I still remember the quiet, but titanic battle of wits between the TV entertainer and the wily ex-President, ending in the jaw dropping admission and near-apology to the American people. It was the stuff of history, and of legend.
Films about real people are always a dice throw, especially famous people you think you know so well. Nixion, in particular, fascinates Hollywood directors. We've already seen Anthony Hopkins take on Tricky Dick. What was Frank Langella going to do with him?
What Frank Langella accomplishes in the film is to crawl inside Nixon's skin, into his very core, and manifest the complex emotions with subtle nuances. He captures a range of emotions with the squint of an eye, twitch of the mouth, the iron clad sense of self and power beneath the camera-ready smile. It is virtuosity.
Michael Sheen as Frost is good, but he has a bit of room to play. I remember the real David Frost from back in the day. He came to American TV as a whiz kid, quickly fizzled, and around the time of Frost/Nixon was seen as a flash in the pan. Nobody much remembers the 1970's David Frost -not as much as everybody remembers Richard Nixon. Sheen captures the determined careerism, the sort of smarmy charm and playboy rep Frost had back then. His Frost is easy to underestimate. Sheen nails him.
As I remember the real Frost/Nixon interview, Frost was never a light weight and Nixon was actually funny and charming. But during that last hour, the Watergate hour, things got down to street fighting level. It ended, just as this film ends, with a disgraced American President finally admitting he let his people and his country down.
I found it personally ironic. I told friends at the time after Frost/Nixon aired - Richard Nixon had the wrong job. He should have been a Sunday morning political pundit. But never the President. In Ron Howard's fictional film, it sounded like Richard Nixon came to the same conclusion I did.
Movie Review: The Rise and Fall of Showmen
Summary: 5 Stars
FROST/NIXON is one of the most successful screen adaptations of a play yet made. Perhaps that is due in part to the fact that the popular stage play by Peter Morgan was revised for the screen by the playwright, but it is also to the credit of director Ron Howard who managed to suffuse the 'play as movie' with such atmosphere and feeling of spontaneity that the rather long movie seems to whisk by more rapidly than history!
Everyone knows of the infamous David Frost interview with Richard Nixon after Nixon had resigned office and was living in semi-seclusion in San Clemente, California, a bitter man struggling with the demons not only from the recent past but also from his childhood. Frost took on the challenge to bring the perpetrator of the Watergate scandal to his knees to satisfy the American public's need for retribution, and in conducting these interviews he did indeed achieve that. The story is as much a character study of Frost as it is of Nixon and the parallels writer Morgan uncovers makes the film far more than a quasi-documentary. This is real drama played for all it's worth.
Frank Langella is unforgettable in his portrayal of Nixon as is Michael Sheen as Frost, each actor having played the roles on Broadway and transferring that depth of understanding to the screen. The surprise in this film is the use of the peripheral cast of characters - Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen, and Toby Jones - a group of actors who light the darker corners of the story with aplomb.
FROST/NIXON should be required viewing for every Political Science major in our schools - and hopefully will urge the nation to find a similar manner to bring closure to the strangely coincidental machinations of the recent Bush administration crimes. Grady Harp, April 09
Movie Review: Quiet and incredible
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Nixon was, without a doubt, one of the worst presidents the United States has ever had, period. His few successes, such as opening up China, are only bare successes and are vastly overshadowed by his many, many failings, of which Watergate is only one. Prior to W, he was certainly the worst president of my lifetime, and definately the worst in the 20th century. Say what you wish about Clinton, who was impeached and shouldn't have been, but the worst crime he committed was lying about sex. The many crimes Nixon committed were far, far worse and have inflicted a damage that even now our country has not recovered from.
The film Frost/Nixon doesn't dwell to much on how the Nixon presidency failed. Rather it focuses on the start of Nixon's rehabilitation before the American public, as he began a series of interviews with British TV personality, David Frost. What begins as lightweight sessions with Nixon dominating turn, in the end, to something quite different, with Nixon asserting that, as far as certain crimes go, "... if the President does it, it's not illegal!"
The movie gives you a fascinating behind the scenes look at all the effort and money that went into getting Nixon to agree to the interviews. You also see the strategies used by both sides to try and control the interviews.
The movie is first-rate entertainment, featuring a wonderful performance by Frank Langella, who is even better as Nixon than Anthony Hopkins had been. I'd had my reservations about him initially, but he proved to be more than up to the task of playing the former president. All the supporting roles are equally good. Really, it's an almost perfect film and worth your time and money.