So if I haven't made clear hundred of times over, I'm not a conservative. In any sense of the word. I hate most of the Republican party, I think that most of their ideals are either stupid or incredibly dangerous (most both!). And I think it all started with Reagan. I hate "Reagan-nomics", I believe that he had Alzheimer's while in office, and I believe some of the most harmful American ideologies originate from him. So, no, I wasn't looking forward to this movie. I was just hoping it was funny bad.
What's The Movie About?
It's a biopic, about guess who. Reagan from the Exorcist. What? No, Buggnutz, Ronald Reagan! The 40th US President!
What I Like.
This movie is good actually. WHAT?! Yeah, I know. I'm shocked too. For starters, the story is actually told in a way that makes sense unlike several other biopics I watched this year. The set-up is pretty cool, basically an ex-KGB guy is telling a rising star in new Russian government about the fall of Communism. That's a pretty cool angle to take a Reagan biopic, and it's presented incredibly well. Not just in comparison to One Love and The Dark One, but just in general. It's pretty quickly paced, there's lots of cool sizzle reels of various world events happening as well as fun cinematography to keep things visually interesting. You're mostly just shocked that it makes sense, right? Yeah kinda. There's also some crazy shots I wasn't expecting, like Reagan foreseeing the nuclear apocalypse. Or kid Reagan's slow-motion baptism by Kevin Sorbo. Acting it pretty good as well, I admire the kid playing teenage Reagan. He was pretty good at the role. The story is a little batshit, but I still liked it. Dude, they claim that Reagan could see the future because he was a lifeguard. How can you not laugh at this? Plus he get a prophecy for his priest that he's gonna president. You're making that up. NOPE IT'S IN THE MOVIE. And it's pretty well made. Not just in the cinematography, acting, and pacing. The effects aren't too bad (except for the greenscreen. The greenscreen is god awful. I've seen a more real child grave in cartoons.) and the directing id pretty solid. True, there are some moments where they are clearly covering up something, the actor they have play Jimmy Carter not looking anything like the real Jimmy, but they do it in a way that gives the movie style.
What I Didn't Like.
So this movie is ridiculous. It does make it a fun watch, but unfortunately this is the dangerous kind of ridiculous, one that certain people are going to take way to seriously. Also, like the titular character, it's 90% full of shit. 90%? Mmm 95%. They completely gloss over certain more distasteful parts of presidency (AIDS Crisis, anyone?) and they make some questionable changes to events that happened. They claim the LBJ only won in a landslide against Reagan because he bribed the electorates. The worst case in my opinion is Nancy Reagan. Nancy Reagan in the movie is just a stick to prop up Ronnie. There's only the briefest mention of her "War on Drugs" and there's no mention of her involvement in the AIDS crisis. Neither do they mention she had the lead singer of the Sex Pistols killed! Roan that's from a NOFX song, not reality. Whatever. At least sometimes the questionable choices lead to funny moments, like Ronnie admitting to Nancy that he's "Damaged Goods" because he was divorced. Also all the accents are absurd and at one point pretty racist! And Dennis Quaid looks more like Nixon than Reagan most of the time.
Final Summation.
So yes, Reagan is good. Don't watch it. God Roan, can't you watch one movie without getting political? Hey, I think it is completely fair to talk about politics, considering the subject material. But my bigger problem is actually about the information presented about Ronnie. It's absolutely not a fair look at the guy's life. Which, honestly, I'd be okay with if it weren't for the fact that he's like the second face of a dangerous political group that is currently trying to strip everyone of their rights. Trump *vomits* is using old clips of Reagan in his campaign ads. It's a clip that they recreate in the movie. I just think that anyone who is genuinely looking for information of Reagan will be severely misinformed. So how about this instead: Only watch the movie is you are already 100% on who you're gonna vote for in November/are pretty much a member of one political party. People dead set in there opinions are either gonna like it because they agree with everything the movie says and this is just a well made movie about one of their political heroes, or they'll think it's so absurd that they can't take it seriously and will just enjoy a well presented movie.
[EDIT: Wait Dennis, am I in the 20% of critics who like the movie, or the 90% who just attacked it?]
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