Movie Review- LIONS FOR LAMBS

HEADLINE: ** Shallow Humanist Politics **
TITLE: LIONS FOR LAMBS
Quality: * Acceptability: -4
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VV
Sex: None
Nudity: None

RATING: R
RELEASE: November 9, 2007
TIME: 88 minutes
STARRING: Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Derek Luke, Michael Peña, Andrew Garfield, and Peter Berg
DIRECTOR: Robert Redford
PRODUCERS: Robert Redford, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Andrew Hauptman, and Tracy Falco
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Daniel Lupi
WRITER: Matthew Michael Carnahan
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: United Artist/MGM

CONTENT: (HHH, Co, RHRH, APAP, Acap, LLL, VV, MM) Very strong humanist worldview with a strong anti-conservative, anti-Republican tone that indicates a possible Neo-Marxist or Communist ideology, though the movie leaves things rather vague concerning social and economic issues, plus some strong revisionist left-wing history regarding the Vietnam War and the War on Terror with a subtext suggesting that the United States military is pretty incompetent and can be led by the nose by conservative politicians and a silly anti-capitalist argument jumps to false conclusions; 31 obscenities (including some "f" words), eight strong profanities, three light profanities, and an obscene gesture; strong action violence such as gunfire, soldiers fall or jump out of helicopter, bombs explode, gunfight battle, and bloody wounds on two soldiers that are almost too graphic but fall short of that; no sex; no nudity; no alcohol; no smoking; and, cynicism rebuked and specious arguments presented lacking facts, logic and solid philosophical/theological support, which could lead to poor thinking skills by impressionable moviegoers.

GENRE: Drama
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults

Please address your comments to:

Harry E. Sloan, Chairman/CEO
Clark Woods, President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution
MGM Studios Inc.
(Partially owned by Sony Corporation of America)
10250 Constellation Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 900067
Phone: (310) 449-3000
Fax: (310) 449-8819
Website: www.mgm.com

SUMMARY: LIONS FOR LAMBS is a shallow, empty-headed piece of left-wing, humanist propaganda about a new plan to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan set against three stories involving a slick Republican politician, a biased liberal reporter, and an earnest political science professor and three of his students. It is one of the most superficial movies in recent memory.

IN BRIEF:

LIONS FOR LAMBS, Robert Redford's left-wing attack on President Bush's War on Terror, tells three stories. In the first story, a Republican politician played by Tom Cruise is telling a reporter played by Meryl Streep about a new plan to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. In the second story, two injured Special Forces soldiers who are part of the plan get trapped on a mountain plateau during winter. In the third story, a political science professor played by Robert Redford tries to convince a cynical student to change the world and defeat the evil Republican policies. The professor happens to be the former teacher of the trapped soldiers.

LIONS FOR LAMBS is perhaps the most superficial movie of the year. It is certainly one of the worst political movies ever made. It is full of cardboard characters, unconvincing situations, corny dialogue, empty performances posing as profound, and shallow partisan arguments. The professor wants to change the world to make it a better place, but neither God nor Jesus Christ, plays any role in his, or the liberal reporter's, worldview. Thus, LIONS FOR LAMBS is a dangerous, demagogic piece of secular humanist propaganda.