Known for his procedural story-telling, Eastwood's style is always accessible.
However from a critical standpoint I feel his last few films haven't fully worked for me. For the last decade, Eastwood has made films that either been somewhat disappointment or be fine but flawed at best.
Going into this film, I had no idea about this true story during the 1996 Olympics despite being a big sports fan.
This managed to be one of his more effective pieces for some time. The story is interesting, and some incidents that happened during it is astonishing and had me feeling disgusted as to how America works within authorities and the media.
A lot of its success is down the performances, where a large portion of them are rather subtle. It always amazes that these types of performances can be as strong and memorable as the loud and in-your-face styles.
Paul Walter Hauser as the titular character showed great innocence and sympathy to make him someone you can root for. I remember seeing him shine in a minor but amusing role in 'I, Tonya' and he carried this film well as the lead.
Kathy Bates echoed that sympathy as Hauser's character's mother. You could really feel her pain as the story developed. Also, supporting well with Hauser was Sam Rockwell, who did what Rockwell does best.
The antagonists lead by Jon Hamm all did a solid job being as slimy and corrupt as you could possibly imagine and therefore instantly hatable.
As for Olivia Wilde, while I don't feel there was anything wrong with her performance, it just felt out of place with the overall tone of the film. It was cartoonish in my view and loud compared to everything else happening around this particular character.
Every other aspect was as you would expect with an Eastwood film. It's imagery is pleasant and it's cinematography is perfectly fine and never unsettles the viewer.
This was a good watch and it felt like Eastwood went somewhat back on track to how we expect his films to be. The story kept my interest throughout and the nuanced performances really worked with the tone that was chosen.
I thought Eastwood was gradually on the way out. But even at 89, he can make some entertaining features.
Rating: 7/10
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