MPAA Rating: PG-13/ Genre: Historical Drama/ Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemmons, David Cross, Pat Healy, Michael Stuhlbarg/ Runtime: 116 minutes
I have felt movie goers that, in the past, there has always been two types of Steven Spielberg films for our viewing pleasures. One is the group known as the Historical Significance for Your Consideration films. These are solemn movies such as Bridge of Spies, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, etc. that possess the distinct aim of simultaneously educating audiences while also allowing the masterful filmmaker that Spielberg is to recreate moments from humanity’s collective past. On the flip side of his filmmaking coin however is the group known as the Popcorn Blockbusters. These are movies like Jurassic Park, the Indiana Jones franchise (yes even the fourth one), Jaws, and Ready Player One. For these kinds of films, the singular goal is simply to entertain each and every one of us by using every trick in the book to both coax you to the edge of your seat and then make you stay there for as long as Spielberg chooses to hold you in his grip (usually no less than two to two and a half hours).
All of which leads us to Steven Spielberg’s exceptional new film about the vitality of journalism known as The Post and I honestly feel like this might be Spielberg’s first movie to really weave both of his types of films together. That is because this movie manages to do the amazing task of not only pouring us out a valuable history lesson, but also gives a briskly paced race-the-clock political thriller that manages to push all the right buttons one loves to see in a crowd-pleaser. So it is that when you combine that as well as a stunning ensemble of extraordinary character actors managing to bring their A-game on a riveting screenplay, all while being choreographed by a genius filmmaker who is firing on all possible cylinders that what you wind up with truly deserved to be called one of the best movies of the first three months of 2018.
The plot is as follows: The Post manages to lay out for us a handful of storylines that all find themselves centered on the acquisition of The Pentagon Papers. These were, for those of you who don’t know, classified documents that seemed to prove the often-believed by the public fact that multiple U.S. administrations had intentionally misled the American public when it came to our motivations to why we stayed involved in the Vietnam War. However a lot of the dominoes in all of this didn’t really begin to topple until a man named Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) who happened to be an opponent to the ongoing war effort, photocopied the documents in their entirety and then began leaking them to The New York Times. However when an enraged President Nixon managed to successfully file an injunction against the Times that prevented them from publishing any more of the information that was to be found in the Papers it would be the Washington Post, with particular regard to their editor at the time Mr. Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), who took it upon themselves to not only pick up where the Times left off, but to also continue the fight of letting the truth finally come to light.
Of course in a movie like this you have to have more than one Goliath-shaped obstacle for the Davids of the story to overcome. So it is here as we see that at the time that Bradlee was pushing his editorial team to, under any circumstances, acquire and publish the Pentagon Papers, the owner of the paper Miss Kay Graham was also facing heat from the shareholders who were all demanding that the Post do absolutely nothing to rock the boat on a potential financial merger that would bring stability to the paper during a true time of need. Yet despite possessing their distinct differences, it ultimately winds being up to Graham, Bradlee, and their team to figure out not only where their loyalties truly lie, but to determine what’s more important: doing right by the paper OR doing right by the people of the United States.
Now I feel that The Post is absolutely not only one of the finest rollicking journalism movies I have ever seen, but it also easily joins the ranks of such classic chase-the-breaking-story-at-all-costs thrillers as All the President’s Men which, without going into spoilers, this film could actually function as a quasi-sorta prequel to, and the recent Spotlight, both of which are movies that I love immensely. (Incidentally the screenwriter who, deservedly so, won an Oscar for Spotlight, actually did a pass on the original Post script, and the end results of the collaboration between all the writers who worked on this film are truly spectacular.)
Also of remarkable note is the fact that The Post actually seems even more entertaining due to every line of the script being knocked out of the park by a truly outstanding character actor. This is due to the fact that Spielberg has managed to recruit one of the deepest, and best, acting benches in recent memory. A fact that we get to witness in earnest as, aside from his two astounding leads who (to no surprise I hope) deliver truly amazing turns here with Hanks playing irascible delightfully well, we also get to witness truly magnificent work from the likes of Bob Odenkirk, Carrie Coon, Bradley Whitford, Alison Brie, Jesse Plemons, Sarah Paulson, Tracy Letts, David Cross (who I’m glad to see finally is in something worthy of his talent) and the always delightful Bruce Greenwood. I mean if there is anyone out there who is truly fascinated with just how exactly a Hollywood masterpiece can, and often does, come together in regards to the acting department, I think that The Post should be a shining example to be studied by generations of filmmakers to come.
Another thing that this movie does superbly well is the level of accuracy that Spielberg goes to in not only creating the war room and heart of the Washington Post that is the news room, but also to the other facets of the time period that this film takes place in. Indeed it is no secret that Spielberg does an amazing job of making his historical films look and feel as if you are back in the time that said film takes place in. That being said I can tell you that The Post really is no exception as everything from the wardrobes to the cars to the nearly flawless recreation of where these people lived and where they went to work makes you feel like instead of watching a movie about something that happened nearly 50 years ago you are there when these events occurred and witnessing them all unfold alongside the real-life people instead of the actors portraying them.
Now on top of the exquisite craftsmanship that extends through the entirety of The Post, this film also manages to possess and also embraces a truly timeless message that really should speak to everyone today. This is the message that starts by saying that journalism, from the day of its creation, was created to be a tireless practice that has always been dedicated to unearthing the truth of any given situation, regardless of who it affects. In addition this message also states that not only is the point of a journalist, unless you do op-ed pieces or criticisms of art like me, to be the one who is willing to follow a developing story down every avenue possible, and then bring whatever results they may find to the people’s attention, even when they might not want to hear what is revealed, but that no matter what happens Journalism will never not be important, and that defending our free press truly is a message that should resonate with audiences everywhere no matter which political party or generation you may belong to.
All in all The Post is a truly wonderful film filled with incredible performances, all servicing an important message that speaks to our current time. Indeed it may take a little while to get going in the beginning, but it’s nevertheless mind-blowing. Indeed only Spielberg could once again manage to recognize the importance of a story, recruit some of the best-of-the-best to help him tell it right, and then, in typical Spielbergian fashion, deliver a brilliant film that I feel will entertain, inform, challenge and delight you and anyone who watches it with you for ages to come. On a scale of 1–5 I give The Post a 4 out of 5.
